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Published on: October 5, 2018
Thermodynamics of hybrid quantum rotor devices
Heather Leitch1, Kenza Hammam1, Gabriele De Chiara1
1Centre for Quantum Materials and Technologies, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
We investigate the thermodynamics of a hybrid quantum device consisting of two qubits collectively interacting with a quantum rotor and coupled dissipatively to two equilibrium reservoirs at different temperatures. By modeling the dynamics and the resulting steady state of the system using a collision model, we identify the functioning of the device as a thermal engine, a refrigerator, or an accelerator. In addition, we also look into the device's capacity to operate as a heat rectifier and optimize both the rectification coefficient and the heat flow simultaneously. Drawing an analogy to heat rectification and since we are interested in the conversion of energy into the rotor's kinetic energy, we introduce the concept of angular momentum rectification, which may be employed to control work extraction through an external load.
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