Magnetocaloric and electrocaloric heat engine and refrigeration cycles in the open Fermi-Hubbard optical dimer with attractive interactions

Abstract

Quantum heat engines and refrigerators can be realized in a Fermi-Hubbard optical dimer through immersion in a mean-field Fermi gas bath using the magnetocaloric and electrocaloric effects. It is demonstrated that in the presence of onsite and heat bath-induced attractive interactions, singlet-to-triplet transitions are achieved with a finite external magnetic field. Similarly, triplet-to-singlet transitions occur in the presence of an applied finite electric field. Results show that to lift the degeneracies, considerable electric potential magnitudes are needed. These magnitudes are greater than the magnetic potential strengths where the degeneracies occur. Furthermore, in the attractive regime, combinations of direct and inverse caloric effects can be combined to operate quantum heat engines and refrigerators, like what happens in the repulsive regime.