We show that harnessing daemonic advantage is possible while charging a quantum battery by first time-evolving the battery collectively with an auxiliary charger, followed by an energy extraction via tracing out the charger. We define the difference between the minimum daemonic ergotropy and the maximum ergotropy of the battery as the daemonic gap at the time where the ergotropy of the battery is maximum. Considering a harmonic mode as the battery and a qubit as the auxiliary charger interacting via Jaynes-Cummings interaction, we show that the daemonic gap can be closed for specific initial passive states of the battery, including the ground state, truncated mixtures of low-lying states, and canonical thermal states. We further define the daemonic band as the difference between the maximum and the minimum daemonic ergotropy, and show that starting from the ground state of the single-mode battery, the daemonic band collapses. We also show that achieving a complete charging, along with accessing the full daemonic band, is possible for the single-mode battery using all of the other initial states by repeating the charging cycle and maximizing ergotropy in every round. We extend the battery-charger design to a multi-mode resonator battery and a qudit charger, and demonstrate, for a double-mode battery and a qutrit charger, that repeating the charging cycle is vital for simultaneously charging individual modes of the collective battery.
We show that harnessing daemonic advantage is possible while charging a quantum battery by first time-evolving the battery collectively with an auxiliary charger, followed by an energy extraction via tracing out the charger. We define the difference between the minimum daemonic ergotropy and the maximum ergotropy of the battery as the daemonic gap at the time where the ergotropy of the battery is maximum. Considering a harmonic mode as the battery and a qubit as the auxiliary charger interacting via Jaynes-Cummings interaction, we show that the daemonic gap can be closed for specific initial passive states of the battery, including the ground state, truncated mixtures of low-lying states, and canonical thermal states. We further define the daemonic band as the difference between the maximum and the minimum daemonic ergotropy, and show that starting from the ground state of the single-mode battery, the daemonic band collapses. We also show that achieving a complete charging, along with accessing the full daemonic band, is possible for the single-mode battery using all of the other initial states by repeating the charging cycle and maximizing ergotropy in every round. We extend the battery-charger design to a multi-mode resonator battery and a qudit charger, and demonstrate, for a double-mode battery and a qutrit charger, that repeating the charging cycle is vital for simultaneously charging individual modes of the collective battery.
Abstract The reduced state of a small system strongly coupled to a charger in thermal equilibrium may be athermal and used as a small battery once disconnected. By harnessing the battery-charger correlations, the battery’s extractable energy can increase above the ergotropy. We introduce a protocol that uses a quantum system as a memory that measures the charger and leaves the battery intact in its charged state. Using the information gained from the measurement, the daemonic ergotropy of the battery is extracted. Then the battery is reconnected to the charger, thermalizing and charging it. However, the memory should return to its initial standard state to close the thermodynamic cycle. Thus, on the one hand, the work cost of the cycle is the sum of the disconnecting and reconnecting battery-charger work plus the measurement and erasure work. On the other hand, the extracted energy is the daemonic ergotropy of the battery plus the ergotropy of the memory. The ratio of these quantities defines the efficiency of the cycle. The protocol is exemplified by a modified transverse spin 1/2 Ising chain, one spin functioning as the battery and the others as the charger. The memory is another auxiliary spin 1/2. We found pairs of measurement schemes from which we extract the same daemonic ergotropy from the battery, they dissipate the same amount of energy, and one leaves the memory in an active state, the other in a passive state. We study the memory’s ergotropy and the daemonic ergotropy of the battery. We find that with measurements, the efficiency can surpass that of the unmeasured protocol, given conditions on temperature, coupling, and choice of the measurement operators.
We examine how a finite many-body system can function as an effective charger for a single-qubit quantum battery, using the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model as a paradigmatic setting. As our figure of merit, we consider the battery ergotropy while explicitly resolving the energetic flows across the composite system. In the absence of intra-charger interactions, we show that the generation of non-zero ergotropy is controlled by the competition between collective coupling and spectral mismatch. We further demonstrate that even passive positive-temperature charger states can generate finite battery ergotropy, provided the charger is sufficiently large and sufficiently hot. Intra-charger interactions restructure the charger spectrum and qualitatively modify the available energetic pathways. While they can enhance the amount of energy accessible for charging, they can simultaneously divert energy into internal many-body and battery-charger interaction channels, producing an energetic impedance to direct charger-to-battery transfer. Consequently, battery ergotropy alone is insufficient to characterize an effective many-body charger: the useful work generated and its energetic provenance must be assessed together.
We propose charging protocols for quantum batteries based on quantum superpositions of trajectories. Specifically, we consider that a qubit (the battery) interacts with multiple cavities or a single cavity at various positions, where the cavities act as chargers. Further, we introduce a quantum control prepared in a quantum superposition state, allowing the battery to be simultaneously charged by multiple cavities (the multiple-charger protocol) or a single cavity with different entry positions (the single-charger protocol). To assess the battery's performance, we evaluate the maximum extractable work, referred to as ergotropy. The primary discovery lies in the quick charging effect, wherein we prove that the increase in ergotropy stems from the quantum coherence initially present in the quantum control. Moreover, the induced “Dicke-type interference effect” in the single-charger protocol can further lead to a “perfect charging phenomenon”, enabling a complete conversion of the stored energy into extractable work across the entire charging process, with just two entry positions in superposition. Furthermore, we propose circuit models for these charging protocols and conduct proof-of-principle demonstrations on IBMQ and IonQ quantum processors. The results validate our theoretical predictions, demonstrating a clear enhancement in ergotropy. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
We analyze the performance of a quantum battery in terms of energy storage and energy extraction, assisted by nonlinearities in a charger-battery system utilizing an open-system approach. In particular, we consider two types of nonlinearities in the system, viz. nonlinearity in the coupling between battery and charger, and the charger itself comprising an anharmonic oscillator. In both these scenarios, the charger is connected to an environment, and is driven by an external laser source. We derive the Markovian master equation for the dynamics of the combined charger-battery system in presence of the environment. When the charger is non-linearly coupled to a battery, we find an enhancement in the steady state ergotropy over the linearly-coupled case. We further see that the times at which steady state and maximum ergotopies are attained get decreased in presence of non-linear coupling. We also identify instances where no ergotropy is obtained in the linear case, but can be obtained in presence of any non-zero value of nonlinearity. We additionally find a complementarity between the non-linear interaction strength and the coherent-drive strength in the steady-state ergotropy values, i.e. the same ergotropy as that obtained using weak nonlinearity and strong coherent drive can be obtained utilizing an opposite order of their values. In case when the charger is modeled as a multi-level transmon with an inherent anharmonicity, we find an advantage in maximum ergotropy values over the harmonic instance. Unlike the non-linearly coupled batteries, the ones mediated by an anharmonic charger prove to be useful in the transient regime. We also determine values of the coherent drive for which the anharmonic battery is beneficial over the harmonic one at all timescales. Further, we observe a distinct region of the anharmonic strength and coherent drive where ergotropy values reach their maxima.
Bosonic modes provide a promising platform for quantum batteries as a result of their unbounded energy spectrum. However, the energy that can be stored during a coherent charging process is limited due to coherent oscillations between the charger and battery. In this work, we show that by introducing a slow quench in the interaction between a coherently driven charger mode and a quadratic oscillator battery, the maximum stored energy and maximum battery power scale algebraically with the quench duration, with exponents controlled by the ramp profile. This finding implies that, quite counterintuitively, slower quenches lead to faster charging. Such a quench suppresses coherent energy oscillations between the battery and the charger, allowing an unbounded increase in power. We further show that, in the ideal closed protocol, the stored energy is fully extractable as ergotropy, while charger dissipation converts the algebraic enhancement into a finite-time scaling window with an optimal quench duration. We also show that the temporal-extensive scaling occurs in a broader context by mapping the system to a coherently driven Tavis-Cummings battery. Finally, we discuss experimentally accessible signatures in superconducting circuit quantum electrodynamics and organic microcavity platforms.
We propose a quantum charging scheme fueled by measurements on ancillary qubits serving as disposable chargers. A stream of identical qubits are sequentially coupled to a quantum battery of N+1 levels and measured by projective operations after joint unitary evolutions of optimized intervals. If charger qubits are prepared in excited state and measured on ground state, then their excitations (energy) can be near perfectly transferred to battery by iteratively updating the optimized measurement intervals. Starting from its ground state, the battery could be constantly charged to an even higher energy level. Starting from a thermal state, the battery could also achieve a near-unit ratio of ergotropy and energy through less than N measurements, when a population inversion is realized by measurements. If charger qubits are prepared in ground state and measured on excited state, useful work extracted by measurements alone could transform the battery from a thermal state to a high-ergotropy state before the success probability vanishes. Our operations in charging are more efficient than those without measurements and do not invoke the initial coherence in both battery and chargers. Particularly, our finding features quantum measurement in shaping nonequilibrium systems.