Quantum thermal machines with single nonequilibrium environments

Abstract

We propose a scheme for a quantum thermal machine made by atoms interacting with a single non-equilibrium electromagnetic field. The field is produced by a simple configuration of macroscopic objects held at thermal equilibrium at different temperatures. We show that these machines can deliver all thermodynamic tasks (cooling, heating and population inversion), and this by establishing quantum coherence with the body on which they act. Remarkably, this system allows to reach efficiencies at maximum power very close to the Carnot limit, much more than in existing models. Our findings offer a new paradigm for efficient quantum energy flux management, and can be relevant for both experimental and technological purposes.

10 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (7)

• Artificial Brownian motors: Controlling transport on the nanoscale
• Measurement of the Temperature Dependence of the Casimir-Polder Force
• New asymptotic behaviour of the surface-atom force out of thermal equilibrium
• Effect of the Casimir-Polder force on the collective oscillations of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate
• Performance bound for quantum absorption refrigerators
• Local effective dynamics of quantum systems: A generalized approach to work and heat
• Quantum systems in a stationary environment out of thermal equilibrium

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Autonomous Quantum Refrigerator in a Circuit-QED Architecture Based on a Josephson Junction
• Energetic and entropic effects of bath-induced coherences
• Non equilibrium dissipation-driven steady many-body entanglement
• Enabling the self-contained refrigerator to work beyond its limits by filtering the reservoir
• Relation between topology and heat currents in multilevel absorption machines
• Excitation injector in an atomic chain: long-ranged transport and efficiency amplification
• Performance of continuous quantum thermal devices indirectly connected to environments