We discuss a quantum thermal machine that generates power from a thermally driven double quantum dot coupled to normal and superconducting reservoirs. Energy exchange between the dots is mediated by electron-electron interactions. We can distinguish three main mechanisms within the device operation modes. In the Andreev tunneling regime, energy flows in the presence of coherent superposition of zero- and two-particle states. Despite the intrinsic electron-hole symmetry of Andreev processes, we find that the heat engine efficiency increases with increasing coupling to the superconducting reservoir. The second mechanism occurs in the regime of quasiparticle transport. Here we obtain large efficiencies due to the presence of the superconducting gap and the strong energy dependence of the electronic density of states around the gap edges. Finally, in the third regime there exists a competition between Andreev processes and quasiparticle tunneling. Altogether, our results emphasize the importance of both pair tunneling and structured band spectrum for an accurate characterization of the heat engine properties in normal-superconducting coupled dot systems.
We discuss a quantum thermal machine that generates power from a thermally driven double quantum dot coupled to normal and superconducting reservoirs. Energy exchange between the dots is mediated by electron-electron interactions. We can distinguish three main mechanisms within the device operation modes. In the Andreev tunneling regime, energy flows in the presence of coherent superposition of zero- and two-particle states. Despite the intrinsic electron-hole symmetry of Andreev processes, we find that the heat engine efficiency increases with increasing coupling to the superconducting reservoir. The second mechanism occurs in the regime of quasiparticle transport. Here we obtain large efficiencies due to the presence of the superconducting gap and the strong energy dependence of the electronic density of states around the gap edges. Finally, in the third regime there exists a competition between Andreev processes and quasiparticle tunneling. Altogether, our results emphasize the importance of both pair tunneling and structured band spectrum for an accurate characterization of the heat engine properties in normal-superconducting coupled dot systems.
We investigated quantum thermal machines powered by sequential nonselective generalized measurements, taking a double quantum dot with coherent interdot tunneling as a working substance. In this platform, the competition between detuning and tunneling hybridizes the localized states and modifies the energetic response of the cycle, allowing us to analyze measurement-driven thermodynamics beyond simple diagonal qubit models. We formulate a three-stroke cycle composed of thermalization with a single reservoir and two generalized measurement channels, and derive the corresponding internal-energy and entropy variations in order to identify the operational regimes of the device. Depending on the measurement parameters, the system can operate as a heat engine, accelerator, heater, or refrigerator. We show that the introduction of tunneling not only reshapes the boundaries between these modes, but also generates refrigeration configurations that are absent in the purely detuned model. In addition, the performance maps reveal that temperature, detuning, and tunneling amplitude jointly control the most favorable regions for work extraction and cooling. Our results demonstrate that coherent interdot coupling acts as an important resource for optimizing measurement-powered quantum thermal machines and highlight double quantum dots as a promising setting for experimentally relevant implementations of measurement-assisted thermodynamic devices.
When a quantum dot is attached to a metallic reservoir and a superconducting contact, Andreev processes lead to a finite subgap current at the normal lead and the creation or destruction of Cooper pairs. Andreev reflection engines profit from the destruction of Cooper pairs to provide the work needed to set a charge current at the normal-conductor contact generating electrical power. For this power-transduction device, high power and large efficiencies in quantum mechanically enhanced regimes are demonstrated. There thermodynamic tradeoff relations between power, efficiency, and stability, valid for any classical engine, are overcome, and kinetic constraints on the engine precision are largely surpassed in arbitrary far-from-equilibrium conditions.
Quantum heat engines provide attractive means in quantum thermodynamics for studying the fundamentals of the flow of heat and work. Previous experimental implementations of heat engines operating at the level of a few excitation quanta have utilized external driving, which has made the observation of the produced work challenging. Conversely, autonomous quantum heat engines only require a flow of heat to operate and generate work. However, autonomous quantum heat engines have not yet been experimentally demonstrated in any system despite numerous theoretical investigations. Here, we experimentally realize an autonomous quantum heat engine based on superconducting circuits. We construct the engine circuit implementing an approximate Otto cycle by coupling two superconducting resonators with a superconducting quantum interference device, and coupling this system to spectrally filtered hot and cold reservoirs. By varying the experimental conditions, we observe coherent microwave power generation arising from the internal dynamics of the system driven only by the thermal reservoirs. Our results validate previous theoretical predictions for this circuit and pave the way for detailed studies of quantum effects in heat engines and for using heat-generated coherent microwaves in circuit quantum electrodynamics.
Continuous particle exchange thermal machines require no time-dependent driving, can be realised in solid-state electronic devices, and miniaturised to nanometre scale. Quantum dots, providing a narrow energy filter and allowing to manipulate particle flow between the hot and cold reservoirs are at the heart of such devices. It has been theoretically shown that by mitigating passive heat flow, Carnot efficiency can be approached arbitrarily closely in a quantum dot heat engine, and experimentally, values of 0.7ηC have been reached. However, for practical applications, other parameters of a thermal machine, such as maximum power, efficiency at maximum power, and noise - stability of the power output or heat extraction - take precedence over maximising efficiency. We explore the effect of internal microscopic dynamics of a quantum dot on these quantities and demonstrate that its performance as a thermal machine depends on few parameters - the overall conductance and three inherent asymmetries of the dynamics. These parameters will act as a guide to engineering the quantum states of the quantum dot, allowing to optimise its performance beyond that of the simplest case of a two-fold spin-degenerate transmission level.
We investigate the thermodynamic performance of a quantum Otto machine whose working substance is a single electron confined in a double quantum dot under an external magnetic field and Rashba spin-orbit interaction. The Hamiltonian is controlled by the Zeeman splitting, the interdot tunneling amplitude, and the Rashba coupling, which induces spin-flip tunneling between localized orbital states. Within a quasistatic Otto cycle, we analyze the heat exchanged with the reservoirs, the extracted work, and the efficiency as functions of the Hamiltonian parameters and reservoir temperatures. We show that the Rashba interaction acts as an effective control parameter for switching among heat-engine, refrigerator, heater, and accelerator regimes. A global numerical analysis over the Hamiltonian parameters and reservoir temperatures identifies the optimal operating points for efficiency and work output in the heat-engine regime. The highest efficiencies occur near the maximum temperature gradient explored and approach the Carnot bound, whereas the largest work output appears in a different region of parameter space. The results reveal a clear trade-off between maximum efficiency and maximum extracted work, governed by the spectral deformation induced by the Zeeman splitting, tunneling amplitude, and Rashba coupling.
We investigate thermal quantum correlations in a system of two coupled superconducting spin qubits described by an effective Andreev spin-qubit Hamiltonian in the presence of spin-orbit interaction. Using Local Quantum Fisher Information (LQFI) and Local Quantum Uncertainty (LQU) as quantum-correlation quantifiers, we analyze the effects of the superconducting phase difference, tunneling amplitude, spin-orbit coupling, and temperature on the nonclassical properties of the system. Analytical expressions for the thermal density matrix are obtained and employed to evaluate both quantities. Our results show that quantum correlations decrease monotonically with increasing temperature, while stronger tunneling and spin-orbit interaction significantly enhance their robustness. Moreover, the superconducting phase introduces a pronounced periodic behavior through the modulation of the effective exchange couplings, leading to constructive and destructive interference regimes that strongly influence the correlations. By analyzing the energy spectrum of the effective Hamiltonian, we demonstrate that the enhancement of quantum correlations is closely associated with an increased energy gap between the ground and first excited states, which suppresses thermal excitations and stabilizes the correlated ground state. Furthermore, LQFI is consistently larger than LQU throughout the investigated parameter space, reflecting its higher sensitivity to quantum fluctuations and local parameter estimation. These findings reveal the microscopic mechanism governing thermal quantum correlations in Andreev spin qubits and highlight the important roles of phase engineering, spin-orbit interaction, and tunneling in protecting quantum resources in hybrid superconducting quantum devices.