Energetic advantages of nonadiabatic drives combined with nonthermal quantum states

Abstract

Unitary drivings of quantum systems are ubiquitous in experiments and applications of quantum mechanics and the underlying energetic aspects, particularly relevant in quantum thermodynamics, are receiving growing attention. We investigate energetic advantages in unitary driving obtained from initial non-thermal states. We introduce the non-cyclic ergotropy to quantify the energetic gains, from which coherent (coherence-based) and incoherent (population-based) contributions are identified. In particular, initial quantum coherences appear to be always beneficial whereas non-passive population distributions not systematically. Additionally, these energetic gains are accessible only through non-adiabatic dynamics, contrasting with the usual optimality of adiabatic dynamics for initial thermal states. Finally, following frameworks established in the context of shortcut-to-adiabaticity, the energetic cost related to the implementation of the optimal drives are analysed and, in most situations, are found to be smaller than the energetic cost associated with shortcut-to-adiabaticity. We treat explicitly the example of a two-level system and show that energetic advantages increase with larger initial coherences, illustrating the interplay between initial coherences and the ability of the dynamics to consume and use coherences.