Efficiency Of Quantum Heat Engine Research Articles

Relativistic quantum heat engine with the presence of minimal length

The presence of a minimal length has a significant effect on relativistic physical systems. This paper discusses how minimal length affects the efficiency of a relativistic quantum heat engine. The working substance chosen is a Dirac particle trapped in a one-dimensional infinite potential well. In this paper, we calculate the efficiency of a quantum heat engine in three thermodynamic cycles, namely the Carnot, Otto, and Brayton cycles. The engine efficiency is calculated analytically and numerically. In this research, the minimal length is a correction factor for the relativistic energy. The result is that the minimal length could increase or decrease the efficiency of the relativistic quantum heat engine on the small potential width according to the particle mass, the expansion parameter, and the thermodynamic cycle.

Shortcut-to-adiabaticity quantum tripartite Otto cycle

For an Otto cycle there always exists a trade-off between the cycle efficiency and the output power due to the requirement of cycle length. The shortcut to adiabatic (STA) technology provides an effective way to deal with the difficulty of zero-output power in conventional Otto cycle. In this paper, the Otto cycle of three-qubit system as the working substance with counterdiabatic driving has been investigated. It is demonstrated that the tripartite Otto cycle as a universal machine, in the suitable regimes of external control parameter, could work as a quantum heat engine (QHE), refrigerator or heat pump. And, the performances of QHE and refrigerator with and without STA, such as the power and efficiency of QHE and the coefficient of performance (COP) and figure of merit (FOM) of refrigerator, have been investigated. It shows the application of STA scheme can lead to an effective enhancement in the performances of Otto cycle, including achievements of a high QHE’s/refrigerator’s power associated with a moderate QHE’s efficiency/COP of refrigerator. Especially, it is interesting that even in a short-time cycle the optimization of control parameters could arise a remarkable improvement in the efficiency (or COP) of STA QHE (refrigerator), approaching the ideal efficiency or COP of conventional Otto cycle with quasi-static process. Finally, with the aid of parameter optimization the trade-off regions between the efficiency and the power (the COP and the FOM) of STA Otto engine (refrigerator) have been advised.

Space-fractional quantum heat engine based on level degeneracy

In order to examine the work and efficiency of the space-fractional quantum heat engine, we consider a model of the space-fractional quantum heat engine which has a Stirling-like cycle with a single particle under infinite potential well as an example. We numerically compute the work and efficiency for various fractional exponents. We show the work and the efficiency of the engine depending on the length of the potential well and fractional exponent of the engine. Furthermore, we show that fractional exponent plays a substantial role in the operating range of the quantum heat engine. Thus, we conclude that the fractional parameter can be used as a tuning parameter to obtain positive work and efficiency for the large size of the quantum heat engine. Additionally, the numerical results and model imply that the size of the engine can be enlarged in the nano-scale by using fractional deformations. As a result, in this study, we have not only shown that fractional deformations in space play an important role on the work and efficiency of the quantum heat engines but also introduced the concept of fractional quantum heat engines to the literature.

Geometrical Bounds of the Irreversibility in Markovian Systems.

We derive geometrical bounds on the irreversibility in both quantum and classical Markovian open systems that satisfy the detailed balance condition. Using information geometry, we prove that irreversible entropy production is bounded from below by a modified Wasserstein distance between the initial and final states, thus strengthening the Clausius inequality in the reversible-Markov case. The modified metric can be regarded as a discrete-state generalization of the Wasserstein metric, which has been used to bound dissipation in continuous-state Langevin systems. Notably, the derived bounds can be interpreted as the quantum and classical speed limits, implying that the associated entropy production constrains the minimum time of transforming a system state. We illustrate the results on several systems and show that a tighter bound than the Carnot bound for the efficiency of quantum heat engines can be obtained.

Impact of nonideal cycles on the efficiency of quantum heat engines

Given a quantum heat engine that operates in a cycle that reaches maximal efficiency for a time-dependent Hamiltonian H(t) of the working substance, with overall controllable driving H(t) = g(t) H, we study the deviation of the efficiency from the optimal value due to a generic time-independent perturbation in the Hamiltonian. We show that for a working substance consisting of two two-level systems, by suitably tuning the interaction, the deviation can be suppressed up to the third order in the perturbation parameter-and thus almost retaining the optimality of the engine.

Not-quite-free shortcuts to adiabaticity

Given the increasing use of shotcuts to adiabaticity (STA) to optimize power and efficiency of quantum heat engines, it becomes a relevant question if there are any theoretical limits to their application. We argue that quantum fluctuations in the control device which implements the shortcut deflect the system from the adiabatic path. This not only induces transitions to unwanted final states but also changes the system energy, so that using the STA has a definite cost in terms of conventional work definitions. This may be the ultimate cost of an adiabatic shortcut, in the sense that it is present even for a frictionless, zero temperature driving. We estimate the effect, to lowest nontrivial order in the derivatives of the time-dependent frequency, on a parametric harmonic oscillator, thus providing a consistency condition for the validity of the classical approximation.

The Influences of Quantum Coherence on the Positive Work and the Efficiency of Quantum Heat Engine with Working Substance of Two-Qubit Heisenberg XXX Model

We study the influences of quantum coherence on the positive work and the efficiency of quantum heat engine (QHE) based on working substance of two-qubit Heisenberg model under a constant external magnetic field. By using analytical and numerical solution, we give the relation expressions for both the positive work and the efficiency with quantum coherence, and in detail discuss the effects of the quantum coherence on the positive work and the efficiency of QHE in the absence or presence of external magnetic field, respectively.

Optimal efficiency of a noisy quantum heat engine.

In this article we use optimal control to maximize the efficiency of a quantum heat engine executing the Otto cycle in the presence of external noise. We optimize the engine performance for both amplitude and phase noise. In the case of phase damping we additionally show that the ideal performance of a noiseless engine can be retrieved in the adiabatic (long time) limit. The results obtained here are useful in the quest for absolute zero, the design of quantum refrigerators that can cool a physical system to the lowest possible temperature. They can also be applied to the optimal control of a collection of classical harmonic oscillators sharing the same time-dependent frequency and subjected to similar noise mechanisms. Finally, our methodology can be used for the optimization of other interesting thermodynamic processes.

Mechanical equivalent of quantum heat engines

Quantum heat engines employ as working agents multilevel systems instead of classical gases. We show that under some conditions quantum heat engines are equivalent to a series of reservoirs at different altitudes containing balls of various weights. A cycle consists of picking up at random a ball from one reservoir and carrying it to the next, thereby performing or absorbing some work. In particular, quantum heat engines, employing two-level atoms as working agents, are modeled by reservoirs containing balls of weight 0 or 1. The mechanical model helps us prove that the maximum efficiency of quantum heat engines is the Carnot efficiency. Heat pumps and negative temperatures are considered.