Energy Quantization Enhances Performance of Single-Atom Heat Machines

Physicists at Harvard University discovered that by quantization of energy can lead to an increase in the efficiency of a single-atom heat-engine that exceeds the classical version. Researchers published a paper about their results in the Physics Review Letters.

Figure 1: Illustration of a situation in which work cannot be extracted from a classical ideal gas, but can be extracted from a quantum one. Credit: Gelbwaser-Klimovsky et al. ©2018 American Physical Society

A heat-engine is one that converts heat into mechanical energy. However, by comparing quantum heat engines with that of classical types, they discovered that the Otto heat-engine functioning on the quantum level, unlike their counterparts, does not necessarily require a compressible fluid. But on the other side, it is still subjected to the Carnot limit. Therefore the quantum heat-engine efficiency cannot go beyond the value of the work divided by the total heat.

Figure 2: Carnot Heat Engine
Source: Chegg

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Single-atom heat machines enabled by energy quantization
Energy quantization enhances the performance of single-atom heat machines