An autonomous single-piston engine with a quantum rotor

Pistons are elementary components of a wide variety of thermal engines, allowing to convert input fuel into rotational motion. Here, we propose a single-piston engine where the rotational degree of freedom is effectively realized by the flux of a Josephson loop -- a quantum rotor -- while the workin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2018-05
Main Authors: Roulet, Alexandre, Nimmrichter, Stefan, Taylor, Jacob M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carnot cycle
Piston engines
Pistons
Quantum electrodynamics
Quantum theory
Thermal baths
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Pistons are elementary components of a wide variety of thermal engines, allowing to convert input fuel into rotational motion. Here, we propose a single-piston engine where the rotational degree of freedom is effectively realized by the flux of a Josephson loop -- a quantum rotor -- while the working volume corresponds to the effective length of a superconducting resonator. Our autonomous design implements a Carnot cycle, relies solely on standard thermal baths and can be implemented with circuit quantum electrodynamics. We demonstrate how the engine is able to extract a net positive work via its built-in synchronicity using a filter cavity as an effective valve, eliminating the need for external control.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1802.05486