The Szilárd engine is a mechanism (akin to Maxwell's demon) for converting information into energy, which seemingly violates the second law of thermodynamics. Originally a classical thought experiment, it was extended to a quantized treatment by Zurek. Here, we examine a new, elegant model of a quantum Szilárd engine by replacing the traditional rigid box with a harmonic potential, extending the scope of the model. Remarkably, almost all calculations are exact. This article is suitable to students, researchers and educators interested in the conceptual links between information, entropy, and quantum measurement.
Recent experimental breakthroughs produced the first nano heat engines that have the potential to harness quantum resources. An instrumental question is how their performance measures up against the efficiency of classical engines. For single ion engines undergoing quantum Otto cycles it has been found that the efficiency at maximal power is given by the Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency. This is rather remarkable as the Curzon-Alhbron efficiency was originally derived for endoreversible Carnot cycles. Here, we analyze two examples of endoreversible Otto engines within the same conceptual framework as…
We investigate quantum Otto engine and refrigeration cycles of a time-dependent harmonic oscillator operating under the conditions of maximum $Ω$-function, a trade-off objective function which represents a compromise between energy benefits and losses for a specific job, for both adiabatic and nonadiabatic (sudden) frequency modulations. We derive analytical expressions for the efficiency and coefficient of performance of the Otto cycle. For the case of adiabatic driving, we point out that in the low-temperature regime, the harmonic Otto engine (refrigerator) can be mapped to Feynman's ratchet…
We propose a system made of three quantum harmonic oscillators as a compact quantum engine for producing mechanical work. The three oscillators play respectively the role of the hot bath, the working medium and the cold bath. The working medium performs an Otto cycle during which its frequency is changed and it is sequentially coupled to each of the two other oscillators. As the two environments are finite, the lifetime of the machine is finite and after a number of cycles it stops working and needs to be reset. We analyse the entanglement and quantum discord generated during the strokes and s…
We propose a quantum Stirling heat engine with an ensemble of harmonic oscillators as the working medium. We show that the efficiency of the harmonic oscillator quantum Stirling heat engine (HO-QSHE) at a given frequency can be maximized at a specific ratio of the temperatures of the thermal reservoirs. In the low temperature or equivalently high frequency limit of the harmonic oscillators, the efficiency of the HO-QSHE approaches the Carnot efficiency. Further, we analyse quantum Stirling heat engine with an ensemble of particle in box quantum systems as the working medium. Here both work and…
Power-efficiency trade-off for finite-time quantum harmonic Otto heat engine via phase-space approach
School of Physics, Korea Institute for Advanced Study（韩国高等科学研究院物理学院）；Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics（亚太理论物理中心）；Department of Physics, POSTECH（韩国科学技术院物理系）
Dynamical phases are obtained for a quantum thermal engine, whose working medium is a single harmonic oscillator. The dynamics of this engine is obtained by using four steps where in two steps the time dependent frequency is changing. In the other two steps, the thermal engine is coupled alternatively to hot and cold heat baths. Similar dynamical phases are obtained in a quantum thermal engine whose working medium is spin 1/2 system. The role of times durations of such steps in the quantum engines for getting maximal efficiency is analyzed. The dynamic of charge pumping in a quantum dot couple…
We realize a heat engine using a single electron spin as a working medium. The spin pertains to the valence electron of a trapped $^{40}$Ca$^+$ ion, and heat reservoirs are emulated by controlling the spin polarization via optical pumping. The engine is coupled to the ion's harmonic-oscillator degree of freedom via spin-dependent optical forces. The oscillator stores the work produced by the heat engine and therefore acts as a flywheel. We characterize the state of the flywheel by reconstructing the Husimi $\mathcal{Q}$ function of the oscillator after different engine runtimes. This allows us…
The robust generation of quantum states in the presence of decoherence is a primary challenge for explorations of quantum mechanics at larger scales. Using the mechanical motion of a single trapped ion, we utilize reservoir engineering to generate squeezed, coherent and displaced-squeezed states as steady states in the presence of noise. We verify the created state by generating two-state correlated spin-motion Rabi oscillations resulting in high contrast measurements. For both cooling and measurement, we use spin-oscillator couplings that provide transitions between oscillator states in an en…
We study the dissipative preparation of many-body entangled Gaussian states in bosonic lattice models which could be relevant for quantum technology applications. We assume minimal resources, represented by systems described by particle-conserving quadratic Hamiltonians, with a single localized squeezed reservoir. We show that in this way it is possible to prepare, in the steady state, the wide class of pure states which can be generated by applying a generic passive Gaussian transformation on a set of equally squeezed modes. This includes non-trivial multipartite entangled states such as clus…
We analyze the performance of a quantum Otto cycle, employing time-dependent harmonic oscillator as the working fluid undergoing sudden expansion and compression strokes during the adiabatic stages, coupled to a squeezed reservoir. First, we show that the maximum efficiency that our engine can achieve is 1/2 only, which is in contrast with the earlier studies claiming unit efficiency under the effect of squeezed reservoir. Then, we obtain analytic expressions for the upper bound on the efficiency as well as on the coefficient of performance of the Otto cycle. The obtained bounds are independen…
Stabilization of finite-energy grid states of a quantum harmonic oscillator by reservoir engineering with two dissipation channels
Laboratoire de Physique de l’Ecole normale supérieure, Mines Paris-PSL, Inria, ENS-PSL, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université（巴黎高等师范学院物理实验室、巴黎矿业学院、法国国家信息与自动化研究所、巴黎文理研究大学、法国国家科学研究中心、索邦大学）；Institut Quantique and Département de Physique, Université de Sherbrooke（谢布罗克大学量子研究所和物理系）
As known all physical properties of solids are described well by the system of quantum linear harmonic oscillators. It is shown in the present paper that the system consisting of classical linear harmonic oscillators having temperature dependent masses or (and) frequencies has the same partition function as the system consisting of quantum linear harmonic oscillators having temperature independent masses and frequencies while the means of the square displacements of the positions of the oscillators from their mean positions for the system consisting of classical linear harmonic oscillators hav…
The unavoidable irreversible losses of power in a heat engine are found to be of quantum origin. Following thermodynamic tradition a model quantum heat engine operating by the Otto cycle is analyzed. The working medium of the model is composed of an ensemble of harmonic oscillators. A link is established between the quantum observables and thermodynamical variables based on the concept of canonical invariance. These quantum variables are sufficient to determine the state of the system and with it all thermodynamical variables. Conditions for optimal work, power and entropy production show that…
We study the role of quantum statistics in the performance of Otto cycles. First, we show analytically that the work distributions for bosonic and fermionic working fluids are identical for cycles driven by harmonic trapping potentials. Subsequently, in the case of non-harmonic potentials, we find that the interplay between different energy level spacings and particle statistics strongly affects the performances of the engine cycle. To demonstrate this, we examine three trapping potentials which induce different (single particle) energy level spacings: monotonically decreasing with the level n…
Thermodynamic Performance of a Measurement-Driven Quantum Engine with a Two-Parameter $(p,q)$-Deformed Harmonic Oscillator
Khalifa University of Science and Technology（哈利法科学技术大学）；KU Research Center for Advanced Intelligent Systems (AIS), Khalifa University of Science and Technology（哈利法科学技术大学 KU 先进智能系统研究中心）
I formulate a quantum stochastic thermodynamics for the quantum trajectories of a continuously-monitored forced harmonic oscillator coupled to a thermal reservoir. Consistent trajectory-dependent definitions are introduced for work, heat, and entropy, through engineering the thermal reservoir from a sequence of two-level systems. Within this formalism the connection between irreversibility and entropy production is analyzed and confirmed by proving a detailed fluctuation theorem for quantum trajectories. Finally, possible experimental verifications are discussed.
We investigate the Shortcuts To Adiabaticity (STA) of a quantum harmonic oscillator under time-dependent frictional force, using invariant based inverse engineering method with a class of invariants characterized by a time-dependent frictional coefficient. We discuss the implementation of shortcut protocol in a generalized framework for any arbitrary time-dependent frictional interaction and study a class of such interaction from which the STA for the quantum harmonic oscillator can be obtained. We also discuss the application of the above protocol for the harmonic oscillator with time-varying…
Stability is an important property of small thermal machines with fluctuating power output. We here consider a finite-time quantum Carnot engine based on a degenerate multilevel system and study the influence of its finite Hilbert space structure on its stability. We optimize in particular its relative work fluctuations with respect to level degeneracy and level number. We find that its optimal performance may surpass those of nondegenerate two-level engines or harmonic oscillator motors. Our results show how to realize high-performance, high-stability cyclic quantum heat engines.
We propose a quantum harmonic oscillator measurement engine fueled by simultaneous quantum measurements of the non-commuting position and momentum quadratures of the quantum oscillator. The engine extracts work by moving the harmonic trap suddenly, conditioned on the measurement outcomes. We present two protocols for work extraction, respectively based on single-shot and time-continuous quantum measurements. In the single-shot limit, the oscillator is measured in a coherent state basis; the measurement adds an average of one quantum of energy to the oscillator, which is then extracted in the f…
Two methods to change a quantum harmonic oscillator frequency without transitions in a finite time are described and compared. The first method, a transitionless-tracking algorithm, makes use of a generalized harmonic oscillator and a non-local potential. The second method, based on engineering an invariant of motion, only modifies the harmonic frequency in time, keeping the potential local at all times.
We consider a paradigmatic quantum harmonic Otto engine operating in finite time. We investigate its performance when shortcut-to-adiabaticity techniques are used to speed up its cycle. We compute efficiency and power by taking the energetic cost of the shortcut driving explicitly into account. We analyze in detail three different shortcut methods, counterdiabatic driving, local counterdiabatic driving and inverse engineering. We demonstrate that all three lead to a simultaneous increase of efficiency and power for fast cycles, thus outperforming traditional heat engines.
In this introductory course we sketch the framework of quantum probability in order to discuss open quantum systems, in particular the damped harmonic oscillator.
Various quantum systems are considered as the working substance for the analysis of quantum heat cycles and quantum refrigerators. The ongoing technological challenge is how efficiently can a heat engine convert thermal energy to mechanical work. The seminal work of Carnot has proposed a fundamental upper limit-the Carnot limit on the efficiency of the heat engine. However, the heat engines can be operated beyond the fundamental upper limit by exploiting non-equilibrium reservoirs. Here, the change in the space structure introduces the non-equilibrium effect. So, a question arises whether a ch…
The quantum Otto cycle serves as a bridge between the macroscopic world of heat engines and the quantum regime of thermal devices composed from a single element. We compile recent studies of the quantum Otto cycle with a harmonic oscillator as a working medium. This model has the advantage that it is analytically trackable. In addition, an experimental realization has been achieved employing a single ion in a harmonic trap. The review is embedded in the field of quantum thermodynamics and quantum open systems. The basic principles of the theory are explained by a specific example illuminating …
Two vector operators aimed at shifting angular momentum quantum number l in spherical harmonics |lm>, primarily proposed by Prof. X. L. Ka in 2001, are further studied. For a given magnetic quantum number m, specific states |lm> in spherical harmonics with the lowest angular momentum quantum numbers l are obtained and the state with minimum angular momentum quantum number in whole set of the spherical harmonics is |0,0>. How to use these states to generate whole set of spherical harmonics is illustrated.
This paper presents an application of white noise functional approach to derive the quantum propagator and the evolution of the reduced density matrix for an open quantum system consisting of coupled harmonic oscillators which are coupled to a bath consisting of a multimode harmonic oscillator. It is shown that the full quantum propagator is a product of three individual propagators. These propagators were obtained after two successive transformations of the coordinates for the system, and the coordinates for the coupling between the bath and one of the two harmonic oscillators in the system. …
By taking a Klein-Gordon field as the environment of an harmonic oscillator and using a new method for dealing with quantum dissipative systems (minimal coupling method), the quantum dynamics and radiation reaction for a quantum damped harmonic oscillator investigated. Applying perturbation method, some transition probabilities indicating the way energy flows between oscillator, reservoir and quantum vacuum, obtained
One-dimensional problem for quantum harmonic oscillator with "regular+random" frequency subjected to the external "regular+random" force is considered. Averaged transition probabilities are found.
In this paper we study some basic quantum confinement effects through investigation of a deformed harmonic oscillator algebra. We show that spatial confinement effects on a quantum harmonic oscillator can be represented by a deformation function within the framework of nonlinear coherent states theory. We construct the coherent states associated with the spatially confined quantum harmonic oscillator in a one-dimensional infinite well and examine some of their quantum statistical properties, including sub-poissonian statistics and quadrature squeezing.
We study the consequences of the generalized Heisenberg uncertainty relation which admits a minimal uncertainty in length such as the case in a theory of quantum gravity. In particular, the theory of quantum harmonic oscillators arising from such a generalized uncertainty relation is examined. We demonstrate that all the standard properties of the quantum harmonic oscillators prevail when we employ a generalized momentum. We also show that quantum electrodynamics and coherent photon states can be described in the familiar standard manner despite the generalized uncertainty principle.
The correspondence between classical and quantum invariants is established. The Ermakov Lewis quantum invariant of the time dependent harmonic oscillator is translated from the coordinate and momentum operators into amplitude and phase operators. In doing so, Turski's phase operator as well as Susskind-Glogower operators are generalized to the time dependent harmonic oscillator case. A quantum derivation of the Manley-Rowe relations is shown as an example.
The time reversal of a completely-positive, nonequilibrium discrete-time quantum Markov evolution is derived via a suitable adjointness relation. Space-time harmonic processes are introduced for the forward and reverse-time transition mechanisms, and their role for relative entropy dynamics is discussed.
We demonstrate control of a trapped-ion quantum harmonic oscillator in a squeezed Fock state basis, using engineered Hamiltonians analogous to the Jaynes-Cummings and anti-Jaynes-Cummings forms. We demonstrate that for squeezed Fock states with low $n$ the engineered Hamiltonians reproduce the $\sqrt{n}$ scaling of the matrix elements which is typical of Jaynes-Cummings physics, and also examine deviations due to the finite wavelength of our control fields. Starting from a squeezed vacuum state, we apply sequences of alternating transfer pulses which allow us to climb the squeezed Fock state l…
We use the Fourier operator to transform a time dependent mass quantum harmonic oscillator into a frequency dependent one. Then we use Lewis-Ermakov invariants to solve the Schrödinger equation by using squeeze operators. Finally we give two examples of time dependencies: quadratically and hyperbolically growing masses.
An explicit solution of the equation for the classical harmonic oscillator with smooth switching of the frequency has been found . A detailed analysis of a quantum harmonic oscillator with such frequency has been done on the base of the method of linear invariants. It has been shown that such oscillator possesses cofluctuant states, different from widely studied Glauber's coherent and "ideal" squeezed states.
It is shown that response properties of a quantum harmonic oscillator are in essence those of a classical oscillator, and that, paradoxical as it may be, these classical properties underlie all quantum dynamical properties of the system. The results are extended to non-interacting bosonic fields, both neutral and charged.
We study two-level q-deformed angular momentum states and us- ing q-deformed harmonic oscillators, we provide a framework for con- structing qubits and quantum gates. We also present the construction of some basic quantum gates including CNOT, SWAP, Toffoli and Fredkin.
After a brief introduction recalling how, in the limit in which the mass and the electric charge of the electron and the positron tend to zero, Quantum Electrodynamics reduces to a collection of uncoupled quantum supersymmetric harmonic oscillators, the phase operator of the quantum fermionic harmonic oscillator and of the quantum supersymmetric harmonic oscillator are introduced and their properties analyzed. It is then shown that the phase operator of a supersymmetric harmonic oscillator is a Goldstone operator at any strictly positive temperature (finite or infinite).
In this paper, we study the dynamical properties of two coupled quantum harmonic oscillators coupled with bosonic non-Markovian environment both in position and momentum. We deduce the exact analytical master equation using Quantum State Diffusion method and give the quantum trajectory description when the control is added to the system by applying interaction between two harmonic oscillators. With numerical simulation, we compare the evolution of entanglement under different controlling effects. At last, we use nonlinear Quantum State Diffusion method to strengthen our above results by gettin…
In this article we obtained the harmonic oscillator solution for quaternionic quantum mechanics ($\mathbbm{H}$QM) in the real Hilbert space, both in the analytic method and in the algebraic method. The quaternionic solutions have many additional possibilities if compared to complex quantum mechanics ($\mathbbm{C}$QM), and thus there are many possible applications to these results in future research.
We show that the Schrödinger equation for the quantum harmonic oscillator can be derived as an approximation to the Newtonian mechanics of a classical harmonic oscillator subject to a random force for time intervals $O( m / \hbar)$, when $\hbar / m \ll 1$. Conversely, every solution to the Schrödinger equation, including all the superposition states, arises this way. In other words, the quantum harmonic oscillator is approximately nothing but the classical harmonic oscillator, with the same mass and frequency as the quantum harmonic oscillator, subject to a random force. We generalize the resu…
This paper has been withdrawn by the authors due to a problem with *efficiently* predicting the large fourier coefficients. It is being reworked and will be resubmitted in the near future.
We show that a polynomial H(N) of degree N of a harmonic oscillator hamiltonian allows us to devise a fully solvable continuous quantum system for which the first N discrete energy eigenvalues can be chosen at will. In general such a choice leads to a re-ordering of the associated energy eigenfunctions of H such that the number of their nodes does not increase monotonically with increasing level number. Systems H have certain universal features, we study their basic behaviours.
We use the theory of quantum estimation in two different qubit-boson coupling models to demonstrate that the temperature of a quantum harmonic oscillator can be estimated with high precision by quantum-limited measurements on the qubit. The two models that we address embody situations of current physical interest due to their connection with ongoing experimental efforts on the control of mesoscopic dynamics. We show that population measurements performed over the qubit probe are near optimal for a broad range of temperatures of the harmonic oscillator
This work is mainly based on some theoretical surveys on two dimensional quantum gravitational well, considering harmonic oscillator potential causes an effective plank constant. We find that there is a similarity between two different cases, potential free and oscillator potential in noncommutative phase space in commutative momentum, but in noncommutative, non zero space and momentum The Hamiltonian would a little bit different in energy levels.
The Levi-Civita transformation is applied in the two-dimensional (2D) Dirac and Klein-Gordon (KG) equations with equal external scalar and vector potentials. The Coulomb and harmonic oscillator problems are connected via the Levi-Civita transformation. These connections lead to an approach to solve the Coulomb problems using the results of the harmonic oscillator potential in the above-mentioned relativistic systems.
The literature on the exponential Fourier approach to the one-dimensional quantum harmonic oscillator problem is revised and criticized. It is shown that the solution of this problem has been built on faulty premises. The problem is revisited via the Fourier sine and cosine transform method and the stationary states are properly determined by requiring definite parity and square-integrable eigenfunctions.
By encoding a qudit in a harmonic oscillator and investigating the infinite limit, we give an entirely new realization of continuous-variable quantum computation. The generalized Pauli group is generated by number and phase operators for harmonic oscillators. We describe a physical realization in terms of modes in a microwave cavity, coupled via a standard Kerr nonlinearity.
In the framework of the Lindblad theory for open quantum systems, we determine the degree of quantum decoherence of a harmonic oscillator interacting with a thermal bath. It is found that the system manifests a quantum decoherence which is more and more significant in time. We also calculate the decoherence time and show that it has the same scale as the time after which thermal fluctuations become comparable with quantum fluctuations.
