Quantum coherence and thermodynamic performance of an Otto heat engine using a pair of dipole-coupled two-level atoms

A classical heat engine that extracts work from thermal sources and which does not include coherence amongst its microscopic degrees of freedom is a fundamental concept of classical thermodynamics. In contrast, the internal states of a quantum heat engine (QHE) can exist in a coherent superposition of energy levels and a question of interest for such a QHE is whether it can exhibit thermodynamic behavior fundamentally different to that allowed in a classical engine. QHEs have recently been implemented using for example trapped ions [1]. However, experiments so far have not shown any non-classical features in their thermodynamic quantities. While the efficiency of a QHE is still bound by the Carnot limit, recent theoretical predictions show that coherence can boost its power output above the classically allowed limit for an engine using the same thermal resources [2]. Moreover, the presence of coherence was predicted to result in the equivalence of different QHE types in the limit of weak driving and short cycle duration.

We theoretically investigate quantum entanglement and coherence in a hybrid Laguerre–Gaussian rotating cavity optomechanical system with two-level atoms, where cavity and mechanical modes are coupled through the exchange of orbital angular momentum. Our study shows that the injection of atoms with a suitable choice of the physical parameters can significantly improve the degree of optomechanical entanglement in all aspects. In the study of quantum coherence research, we show more comprehensively the negative and positive effects of atoms on the coherence. The result obtained is that only when the atom is significantly off-resonant to driving field, the coupling strength in between the atoms and light field increases and the quantum coherence can be enhanced, otherwise it will reduce quantum coherence. In addition, the atomic decay suppresses quantum coherence phenomenon.

The Carnot limit, formulated in 1824, represents the maximal efficiency of a classical heat engine. In this work we present a thermodynamical analysis of a light amplifier based on a three-level atom coupled off-resonantly to a single quantized cavity mode and to two heat reservoirs with positive temperatures. Based on standard work and heat flow equilibrium, we show that for a cavity blue-detuned with respect to the atomic resonance, the system can surpass the Carnot limit. Nevertheless, the second law of thermodynamics is still obeyed, as the total entropy always increases. By analyzing a semiclassical version of the model, we derive a formula for the critical frequency for which the Carnot limit is broken and a formula for the amplifier efficiency which agrees with its quantum counterpart. In the semiclassical regime, however, the second law is not satisfied and hence it does not offer a physically acceptable description of the system. Finally, we show that breaking the Carnot limit occurs also in a blue-detuned quantum amplifier with output coupling, which represents a realistic model of a laser or maser.

A key concept in quantum thermodynamics is extractable work, which specifies the maximum amount of work that can be extracted from a quantum system. Different quantities are used to measure extractable work, the most prevalent of which are ergotropy and the difference between the non-equilibrium and equilibrium quantum free energies. Using the latter, we investigate the evolution of extractable work when an open quantum system undergoes a general quantum process described by a completely-positive and trace-preserving dynamical map. We derive a fundamental equation of thermodynamics for such processes as a relation between the distinct sorts of energy change in such a way that the first and the second law of thermodynamics are combined. We then identify the contributions from the reversible and irreversible processes in this equation and demonstrate that they are respectively responsible for the evolution of heat and extractable work of the open quantum system. Furthermore, we show how this correspondence between irreversibility and extractable work has the potential to provide a clear explanation of how the quantum properties of a system affect its extractable work evolution. Specifically, we establish this by directly connecting the change in extractable work with the change in standard quantifiers of quantum non-Markovianity and quantum coherence during a general quantum process. We illustrate these results with two examples.

The dynamics of appearance of a steady entangled state in an ensemble of two collectively decaying two-level atoms is studied on the basis of the Peres-Horodecki criterion with regard to the dipole-dipole interaction between the atoms and their frequency detuning. It is ascertained that, in the absence of dipole-dipole interaction, the steady-state entanglement is in many respects due to the coincidence of the frequencies of transitions in the atoms, whereas a difference in the frequencies, related to different positions of the atoms in a crystal or their thermal motion, destroys the steady-state entanglement. Upon a dipole-dipole interaction, a steady-state entanglement also exists and, in this case, depends strongly on the relationship between the magnitude of the dipole-dipole interaction, the constant of coupling with a thermostat, and the phase of the resonance wave; the entanglement appears only when the thermostat coupling constant is dominant.

Recently, the influences of the Dzyaloshinski-Moriya (DM) interaction on the performances of the basic thermo-dynamical quantities have attracted a lot of attention. A large number of investigations on the quantum coupling systems with DM interaction have been carried out. However, the specific effects of spin-orbit coupling with the performance on the quantum heat engine have not been taken into account in previous studies. DM interaction is a special kind spin-orbit coupling. To enrich the research of the quantum heat engines, the investigation about the effect of DM interaction on its thermodynamic characteristics should be included. In this study, we construct two entangled quantum engines based on spin-1/2 systems with different DM interactions, with the spin exchange constant and magnetic field fixed. The quantum Otto engine and the quantum Stirling engine are discussed in this article. By numerical calculation, we obtain the expressions for several thermodynamic quantities and plot the isoline maps of the variation of the basic thermodynamic quantities such as heat transfer, work with D1 and D2 and their efficiency in the two engines. The results indicate that the DM interaction plays an important role in the thermodynamic quantities for the quantum Otto engine and the quantum Stirling engine. In addition, the positive work condition is discussed with different DM interactions, with the spin exchange constant and magnetic field. Furthermore fixed, it is found that the efficiency of quantum Otto engine cycle is smaller than the Carnot efficiency while the quantum Stirling cycle can exceed the Carnot efficiency by using the regenerator. Finally, the second law of thermodynamics is shown to be valid in the two entangled quantum systems.

The study of low-dimensional metal complexes has revealed fascinating characteristics regarding the ground-state crossover shown by spin-gaped systems. In this context, this work explores the effect of the quantum-level crossing, induced by the magnetic anisotropies of dipolar interaction, on the quantum discord and coherence of a dinuclear spin-1/2 system. The analytical expressions for the quantum discord, based on Schatten 1-norm, and the l 1 norm quantum coherence for dinuclear spin-1/2 systems, are provided in terms of the magnetic anisotropies. The results show that, while the quantum discord has a clear signature of the quantum level-crossing, the basis dependence of the axial quantum coherence hides the crossover regarding the measured basis. Moreover, global coherence was expressed in terms of the co-latitude and longitude angles of the Bloch sphere representation. Through this result, the average quantum coherence is numerically measured in order to obtain a basis-independent perspective for the l 1 quantum coherence. The results show that the average measurement revealed the signature of the energy-level crossover obtained in the measurement of quantum discord, being wholly stored within the correlations of the system, even in the absence of entanglement.

Does thermodynamics still hold true for mecroscopic small systems with only limited degrees of freedom? Do concepts such as temperature, entropy, work done, heat transfer, isothermal processes, and the Carnot cycle remain valid? Does the thermodynamic theory for small systems need modifying or supplementing compared with traditional thermodynamics applicable to macroscopic systems? Taking a single-particle system for example, we investigate the applicability of thermodynamic concepts and laws in small systems. We have found that thermodynamic laws still hold true in small systems at an ensemble-averaged level. After considering the information erasure of the Maxwell's demon, the second law of thermodynamics is not violated. Additionally, 'small systems' bring some new features. Fluctuations in thermodynamic quantities become prominent. In any process far from equilibrium, the distribution functions of thermodynamic quantities satisfy certain rigorously established identities. These identities are known as fluctuation theorems. The second law of thermodynamics can be derived from them. Therefore, fluctuation theorems can be considered an upgradation to the second law of thermodynamics. They enable physicists to obtain equilibrium properties (e.g. free energy difference) by measuring physical quantities associated with non-equilibrium processes (e.g. work distributions). Furthermore, despite some distinct quantum features, the performance of quantum heat engine does not outperform that of classical heat engine. The introduction of motion equations into small system makes the relationship between thermodynamics and mechanics closer than before. Physicists can study energy dissipation in non-equilibrium process and optimize the power and efficiency of heat engine from the first principle. These findings enrich the content of thermodynamic theory and provide new ideas for establishing a general framework for non-equilibrium thermodynamics.

The dynamic properties and stability of optically mutual-injected arrays composed of terahertz quantum cascade lasers (THz QCLs) were investigated and compared with those of diode laser (DL) arrays. The influences of the coupling strength and frequency detuning on the working states of the arrays were analyzed using numerical simulations of the time evolutions of the electric fields and their corresponding Fourier-transform spectra. It was found that when the frequency detuning between individual lasers was zero, the QCL arrays could always maintain phase-locked operation. In contrast, the DLs were only able to function in a stable state with weak coupling strengths. With increasing coupling strength, periodic, quasi-periodic, multi-periodic, and aperiodic oscillations appeared. When the frequency detuning of the array lasers was nonzero, the QCL array could not be phase-locked at low coupling strengths, and it only entered the phase-locked region if the coupling strength was increased. However, the DL array could only work stably at low coupling strengths and quickly entered the aperiodic oscillation region as the coupling strength was increased. When we fixed the coupling strength and changed the frequency detuning, with large frequency detunings, both the QCL and DL arrays exhibited periodic oscillations. However, the QCLs were phase-locked at low frequency detunings, while the DLs exhibited periodic and multi-periodic oscillations across a broader frequency range. The results indicate that QCL arrays are more stable than DL arrays across a wide range of coupling strengths and frequency detuning parameters.

We present here a quantum Carnot engine in which the atoms in the heat bath are given a small bit of quantum coherence. The induced quantum coherence becomes vanishingly small in the high-temperature limit at which we operate and the heat bath is essentially thermal. However, the phase phi, associated with the atomic coherence, provides a new control parameter that can be varied to increase the temperature of the radiation field and to extract work from a single heat bath. The deep physics behind the second law of thermodynamics is not violated; nevertheless, the quantum Carnot engine has certain features that are not possible in a classical engine.

We introduce a class of quantum heat engines which consists of two-energy-eigenstate systems, the simplest of quantum mechanical systems, undergoing quantum adiabatic processes and energy exchanges with heat baths, respectively, at different stages of a cycle. Armed with this class of heat engines and some interpretation of heat transferred and work performed at the quantum level, we are able to clarify some important aspects of the second law of thermodynamics. In particular, it is not sufficient to have the heat source hotter than the sink, but there must be a minimum temperature difference between the hotter source and the cooler sink before any work can be extracted through the engines. The size of this minimum temperature difference is dictated by that of the energy gaps of the quantum engines involved. Our new quantum heat engines also offer a practical way, as an alternative to Szilard's engine, to physically realise Maxwell's daemon. Inspired and motivated by the Rabi oscillations, we further introduce some modifications to the quantum heat engines with single-mode cavities in order to, while respecting the second law, extract more work from the heat baths than is otherwise possible in thermal equilibria. Some of the results above are also generalisable to quantum heat engines of an infinite number of energy levels including 1-D simple harmonic oscillators and 1-D infinite square wells, or even special cases of continuous spectra.

The question of with what we associate work and heat in a quantum thermodynamic process has been extensively discussed, mostly for systems with time-dependent Hamiltonians. In this paper, we aim to investigate the energy exchanged between two quantum systems through interaction where the Hamiltonian of the system is time-independent. An entropy-based re-definitions of heat and work are presented for these quantum thermodynamic systems therefore an entropy-based formalism of both the first and the second laws of thermodynamics are introduced. We will use the genuine reasoning based on which Clausius originally defined work and heat. The change in the energy which is accompanied by a change in the entropy is identified as heat, while any change in the energy which does not lead to a change in the entropy is known as work. It will be seen that quantum coherence does not allow all the energy exchanged between two quantum systems to be only of the heat form. Several examples will also be discussed. Finally, we will examine irreversibility from our entropy-based formalism of quantum thermodynamics.

We show that it is possible to improve the efficiency of a classical Otto-cycle heat engine by adding a high-Q microwave cavity and a laser system that can extract coherent laser energy from thermally excited ``exhaust'' atoms. This improvement does not violate the second law of thermodynamics, i.e., we show that a combined high-Q microwave cavity and a laser system does not improve the efficiency of a classical Carnot-cycle heat engine.

In the two-atom or multiatom system, the atoms can interact with each other through exchange of virtual photon. This kind of energy exchange is often referred as the dipole-dipole interaction (DDI). Here we consider this DDI system consisting of a pair of two-level atoms strongly coupled with a bimodal whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microresonator which is driven by an external laser field. Our aim is to explore the photon correlation characteristics of the proposed architecture using realistic experimental parameter values. We compare in detail the quality of photon antibunching (i.e., the smallness of the second-order correlation function) from three involved configurations in cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED): (i) only one two-level atom, (ii) two far apart two-level atoms without DDI, and (iii) two DDI (dipole-coupled) two-level atoms are respectively coupled to the driven WGM microresonator through the evanescent field. We clearly show that the DDI between both atoms can distinctly enhance the photon antibunching even in the weak-coupling regime in configuration (iii) with feature-rich line shapes. We also find that the photon antibunching can be modulated by properly adjusting the atom-cavity coupling strength. In addition, we display that this strong photon antibunching is robust against the cooperative atomic decay. Our DDI-based cavity QED scheme may provide an alternative way to the construction of integrated on-chip single-photon sources.

Quantum coherence has played a decisive role in quantum information processing. On the other hand, quantum correlation can be considered as a powerful resource for delivering quantum information. Both quantum coherence and quantum correlation may occur in an information propagating process, which challenges us to understand the relationship between coherence and correlation. This is also an important procedure for physicists to know the features of quantum resources. Any quantum system interacting with its surrounding environment will destroy the quantum coherence and fail to fulfil any task of delivering quantum information. In this sense, studying the dynamics of quantum correlation and quantum coherence is very fascinating. In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of the quantum correlation and quantum coherence for two central qubits coupled to their own spin baths modeled by the XY spin chain with Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction. We employ the quantum discord to characterize the quantum correlation, and use the relative entropy to measure quantum coherence. In this way the evolution law of the quantum discord and the relative entropy of quantum coherence of two-qubit system are derived, and the evolution law depends not only on the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction, the anisotropy parameter and the total number of spin chain sites, but also on the coupling strength between the central spin and its spin chain. Our findings are as follows. Firstly, we find that near the critical point of spin chain the quantum coherence abruptly changes, which can be used to detect the existence of quantum phase transition. Secondly, at the critical point, the relative entropy of quantum coherence is the same as that of classical correlation when time tt0, and it is the same as that of quantum discord when time tt0. At time t0, the sudden transition from quantum discord to classical correlation occurs. All in all, the relative entropy of quantum coherence reflects the behaviors of classical correlation and quantum discord for times tt0 and tt0, respectively, which is caused by the change of the optimal basis for quantum discord. Thirdly, the dynamics of quantum correlation and quantum coherence keep invariant under the scaling variation of the total number of spin chain sites and the coupling strength. Moreover, we find that all the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interactions and the anisotropy parameters, as well as the coupling strengths will enhance the decay of quantum coherence and quantum correlation, while they have no obvious effect on the relationship between dynamics of coherence and correlation. The above discussion reveals some new features of quantum coherence and quantum correlation, which may be useful in further developing quantum information theory.