No Arabic abstract
Recently, Zhang {em et al.} [PRA, {bf 75}, 062102 (2007)] extended Kieus interesting work on the quantum Otto engine [PRL, {bf 93}, 140403 (2004)] by considering as working substance a bipartite quantum system $AB$ composed of subsystems $A$ and $B$. In this paper, we express the net work done $W_{AB}$ by such an engine explicitly in terms of the macroscopic bath temperatures and information theoretic quantities associated with the microscopic quantum states of the working substance. This allows us to gain insights into the dependence of positive $W_{AB}$ on the quantum properties of the states. We illustrate with a two-qubit XY chain as the working substance. Inspired by the expression, we propose a plausible formula for the work derivable from the subsystems. We show that there is a critical entanglement beyond which it is impossible to draw positive work locally from the individual subsystems while $W_{AB}$ is positive. This could be another interesting manifestation of quantum nonlocality.
We study the quantum mechanical generalization of force or pressure, and then we extend the classical thermodynamic isobaric process to quantum mechanical systems. Based on these efforts, we are able to study the quantum version of thermodynamic cycles that consist of quantum isobaric process, such as quantum Brayton cycle and quantum Diesel cycle. We also consider the implementation of quantum Brayton cycle and quantum Diesel cycle with some model systems, such as single particle in 1D box and single-mode radiation field in a cavity. These studies lay the microscopic (quantum mechanical) foundation for Szilard-Zurek single molecule engine.
Owing to the ubiquity of synchronization in the classical world, it is interesting to study its behavior in quantum systems. Though quantum synchronisation has been investigated in many systems, a clear connection to quantum technology applications is lacking. We bridge this gap and show that nanoscale heat engines are a natural platform to study quantum synchronization and always possess a stable limit cycle. Furthermore, we demonstrate an intimate relationship between the power of a heat engine and its phase-locking properties by proving that synchronization places an upper bound on the achievable steady-state power of the engine. Finally, we show that the efficiency of the engine sets a point in terms of the bath temperatures where synchronization vanishes. We link the physical phenomenon of synchronization with the emerging field of quantum thermodynamics by establishing quantum synchronization as a mechanism of stable phase coherence.
The efficiency of small thermal machines is typically a fluctuating quantity. We here study the efficiency large deviation function of two exemplary quantum heat engines, the harmonic oscillator and the two-level Otto cycles. While the efficiency statistics follows the universal theory of Verley et al. [Nature Commun. 5, 4721 (2014)] for nonadiabatic driving, we find that the latter framework does not apply in the adiabatic regime. We relate this unusual property to the perfect anticorrelation between work output and heat input that generically occurs in the broad class of scale-invariant adiabatic quantum Otto heat engines and suppresses thermal as well as quantum fluctuations.
Recent predictions for quantum-mechanical enhancements in the operation of small heat engines have raised renewed interest in their study from both a fundamental perspective and in view of applications. One essential question is whether collective effects may help to carry enhancements over larger scales, when increasing the number of systems composing the working substance of the engine. Such enhancements may consider not only power and efficiency, that is its performance, but, additionally, its constancy, i.e. the stability of the engine with respect to unavoidable environmental fluctuations. We explore this issue by introducing a many-body quantum heat engine model composed by spin pairs working in continuous operation. We study how power, efficiency and constancy scale with the number of spins composing the engine, and obtain analytical expressions in the macroscopic limit. Our results predict power enhancements, both in finite-size and macroscopic cases, for a broad range of system parameters and temperatures, without compromising the engine efficiency, as well as coherence-enhanced constancy for large but finite sizes. We also discuss these quantities in connection to Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relations (TUR).
Here we present an architecture for the implementation of cyclic quantum thermal engines using a superconducting circuit. The quantum engine consists of a gated Cooper-pair box, capacitively coupled to two superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators with different frequencies, acting as thermal baths. We experimentally demonstrate the strong coupling of a charge qubit to two superconducting resonators, with the ability to perform voltage driving of the qubit at GHz frequencies. By terminating the resonators of the measured structure with normal-metal resistors whose temperature can be controlled and monitored, a quantum heat engine or refrigerator could be realized. Furthermore, we numerically evaluate the performance of our setup acting as a quantum Otto-refrigerator in the presence of realistic environmental decoherence.