Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2601.16671

Charging of a Quantum Battery by a Single-Photon Quantum Pulse

Elnaz Darsheshdar, Seyed Mostafa Moniri

quant-phSubmitted Jan 23, 2026• Announced Jan 26, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study a minimal model for charging a quantum battery consisting of a two-level system (TLS) acting as a charger, coupled to a harmonic oscillator that serves as the quantum battery. A single-photon quantum pulse of light excites the TLS, which subsequently transfers its excitation to the isolated battery. The TLS may also decay into the electromagnetic environment. We obtain analytical solutions for the dynamics of the battery and determine the optimal pulse shape that maximizes the stored energy. The optimal pulse saturates a universal bound for the stored energy, determined by the TLS decay rates into the pulse and the environment. Furthermore, we derive the minimum charging time and establish a quantum speed limit at the exceptional point, where a critical transition occurs in the system's dynamics. We also present analytical expressions for the charging power and investigate the pulse duration that maximizes it.

Related papers

Charging of a quantum battery by a single-photon quantum pulse

Elnaz Darsheshdar, Seyed Mostafa Moniri

Abstract We study a minimal model for charging a quantum battery consisting of a two-level system (TLS) acting as a charger, coupled to a harmonic oscillator that serves as the quantum battery. A single-photon quantum pulse of light excites the TLS, which subsequently transfers its excitation to the isolated battery. The TLS may also decay into the electromagnetic environment. We obtain analytical solutions for the battery dynamics and determine the optimal pulse shape that maximizes the stored energy. The optimal pulse saturates a universal bound for the stored energy, determined by the TLS decay rates into the pulse and the environment. Furthermore, we derive the minimum charging time and establish a quantum speed limit at the exceptional point, where a critical transition occurs in the system’s dynamics. We also present analytical expressions for the charging power and investigate the pulse duration that maximizes it.

Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Jun 17, 2026•0 citations

Charging of a Quantum Battery by a Two-Photon Quantum Pulse

Elnaz Darsheshdar, Seyed Mostafa Moniri, Mikayel Khanbekyan

We investigate the charging of a harmonic-oscillator quantum battery by a propagating two-photon quantum pulse coupled through a two-level-system charger. Excitation-number conservation reduces the dynamics to a sequential response of the first and second excitation sectors, whose effective non-Hermitian generators exhibit two exceptional points separating overdamped, mixed, and underdamped regimes. We derive the exact full-charging amplitude and the response-matched two-photon temporal mode that achieves perfect charging in the ideal resonant single-channel model. For experimentally accessible Gaussian pulses, moderate temporal anticorrelation or a finite photon delay can enhance charging, whereas positive correlations generally suppress it. States with equal Schmidt number can nevertheless show different charging efficiencies, demonstrating that temporal-mode structure and response matching, rather than nonseparability alone, determine charging performance.

quant-pharXiv:2608.15653•Optics Express•Aug 18, 2026•0 citations

Energetics of a pulsed quantum battery

Charles Andrew Downing, Muhammad Shoufie Ukhtary

Abstract The challenge of storing energy efficiently and sustainably is highly prominent within modern scientific investigations. Due to the ongoing trend of miniaturization, the design of expressly quantum storage devices is itself a crucial task within current quantum technological research. Here we provide a transparent analytic model of a two-component quantum battery, composed of a charger and an energy holder, which is driven by a short laser pulse. We provide simple expressions for the energy stored in the battery, the maximum amount of work which can be extracted, both the instantaneous and the average powers, and the relevant charging times. This allows us to discuss explicitly the optimal design of the battery in terms of the driving strength of the pulse, the coupling between the charger and the holder, and the inevitable energy loss into the environment. We anticipate that our theory can act as a helpful guide for the nascent experimental work building and characterizing the first generation of truly quantum batteries.

arXiv:2403.20155•Europhysics Letters (EPL)•Mar 27, 2024•20 citations

Optimal control methods for quantum batteries

Francesco Mazzoncini, Vasco Cavina, Gian Marcello Andolina +2 more

We investigate the optimal charging processes for several models of quantum batteries, finding how to maximize the energy stored in a given battery with a finite-time modulation of a set of external fields. We approach the problem using advanced tools of optimal control theory, highlighting the universality of some features of the optimal solutions, for instance the emergence of the well-known bang-bang behavior of time-dependent external fields. The technique presented here is general, and we apply it to specific cases in which the energy is either pumped into the battery by external forces (direct charging) or transferred into it from an external charger (mediated charging). In this paper we focus on particular systems that consist of coupled qubits and harmonic oscillators, for which the optimal charging problem can be explicitly solved using a combined analytical-numerical approach based on our optimal control techniques. However, our approach can be applied to more complex setups, thus fostering the study of many-body effects in the charging process.

arXiv:2210.04028•Physical Review A•Mar 30, 2023•86 citations

Optimal quantum control of charging quantum batteries

Ricard Ravell Rodríguez, B. Ahmadi, Gerardo Suárez +3 more

Abstract Quantum control allows us to address the problem of engineering quantum dynamics for special purposes. While recently the field of quantum batteries has attracted much attention, optimization of their charging has not benefited from the quantum control methods. Here we fill this gap by using an optimization method. We apply for the first time the convergent iterative method for the control of the population of a bipartite quantum system in two cases, starting with a qubit-qubit case. The quantum charger-battery system is considered here, where the energy is pumped into the charger by an external classical electromagnetic field. Secondly, we systematically extend our investigation to a second case involving two harmonic oscillators in the Gaussian regime, presenting an original formulation of the method. In both cases, the charger is considered to be an open dissipative system, as its interaction with the drive may require a more pronounced exposure to general interaction with environment. A key consideration in our optimization strategy is the practical concern of turning the charging external field on and off. We find that optimizing the pulse shape yields a substantial enhancement in both the power and efficiency of the charging process compared to a sinusoidal drive. The harmonic oscillator configuration of quantum batteries is particularly intriguing, as the optimal driving pulse remains effective regardless of the environmental temperature. This study introduces a novel approach to quantum battery charging optimization, opening avenues for enhanced performance in real-world applications.

arXiv:2207.00094•New Journal of Physics•Mar 27, 2024•59 citations

Charger-mediated energy transfer in exactly solvable models for quantum batteries

Gian Marcello Andolina, Donato Farina, Andrea Mari +3 more

We present a systematic analysis and classification of several models of quantum batteries involving different combinations of two-level systems and quantum harmonic oscillators. In particular, we study energy-transfer processes from a given quantum system, termed a ``charger,'' to another one, i.e., the proper ``battery.'' In this setting, we analyze different figures of merit, including the charging time, the maximum energy transfer, and the average charging power. The role of coupling Hamiltonians which do not preserve the number of local excitations in the charger-battery system is clarified by properly accounting for them in the global energy balance of the model.

arXiv:1807.04031•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Nov 26, 2018•253 citations
We study a minimal model for charging a quantum battery consisting of a two-level system (TLS) acting as a charger, coupled to a harmonic oscillator that serves as the quantum battery. A single-photon quantum pulse of light excites the TLS, which subsequently transfers its excitation to the isolated battery. The TLS may also decay into the electromagnetic environment. We obtain analytical solutions for the dynamics of the battery and determine the optimal pulse shape that maximizes the stored energy. The optimal pulse saturates a universal bound for the stored energy, determined by the TLS decay rates into the pulse and the environment. Furthermore, we derive the minimum charging time and establish a quantum speed limit at the exceptional point, where a critical transition occurs in the system's dynamics. We also present analytical expressions for the charging power and investigate the pulse duration that maximizes it.
Abstract We study a minimal model for charging a quantum battery consisting of a two-level system (TLS) acting as a charger, coupled to a harmonic oscillator that serves as the quantum battery. A single-photon quantum pulse of light excites the TLS, which subsequently transfers its excitation to the isolated battery. The TLS may also decay into the electromagnetic environment. We obtain analytical solutions for the battery dynamics and determine the optimal pulse shape that maximizes the stored energy. The optimal pulse saturates a universal bound for the stored energy, determined by the TLS decay rates into the pulse and the environment. Furthermore, we derive the minimum charging time and establish a quantum speed limit at the exceptional point, where a critical transition occurs in the system’s dynamics. We also present analytical expressions for the charging power and investigate the pulse duration that maximizes it.
We investigate the charging of a harmonic-oscillator quantum battery by a propagating two-photon quantum pulse coupled through a two-level-system charger. Excitation-number conservation reduces the dynamics to a sequential response of the first and second excitation sectors, whose effective non-Hermitian generators exhibit two exceptional points separating overdamped, mixed, and underdamped regimes. We derive the exact full-charging amplitude and the response-matched two-photon temporal mode that achieves perfect charging in the ideal resonant single-channel model. For experimentally accessible Gaussian pulses, moderate temporal anticorrelation or a finite photon delay can enhance charging, whereas positive correlations generally suppress it. States with equal Schmidt number can nevertheless show different charging efficiencies, demonstrating that temporal-mode structure and response matching, rather than nonseparability alone, determine charging performance.
Abstract The challenge of storing energy efficiently and sustainably is highly prominent within modern scientific investigations. Due to the ongoing trend of miniaturization, the design of expressly quantum storage devices is itself a crucial task within current quantum technological research. Here we provide a transparent analytic model of a two-component quantum battery, composed of a charger and an energy holder, which is driven by a short laser pulse. We provide simple expressions for the energy stored in the battery, the maximum amount of work which can be extracted, both the instantaneous and the average powers, and the relevant charging times. This allows us to discuss explicitly the optimal design of the battery in terms of the driving strength of the pulse, the coupling between the charger and the holder, and the inevitable energy loss into the environment. We anticipate that our theory can act as a helpful guide for the nascent experimental work building and characterizing the first generation of truly quantum batteries.
We investigate the optimal charging processes for several models of quantum batteries, finding how to maximize the energy stored in a given battery with a finite-time modulation of a set of external fields. We approach the problem using advanced tools of optimal control theory, highlighting the universality of some features of the optimal solutions, for instance the emergence of the well-known bang-bang behavior of time-dependent external fields. The technique presented here is general, and we apply it to specific cases in which the energy is either pumped into the battery by external forces (direct charging) or transferred into it from an external charger (mediated charging). In this paper we focus on particular systems that consist of coupled qubits and harmonic oscillators, for which the optimal charging problem can be explicitly solved using a combined analytical-numerical approach based on our optimal control techniques. However, our approach can be applied to more complex setups, thus fostering the study of many-body effects in the charging process.
Abstract Quantum control allows us to address the problem of engineering quantum dynamics for special purposes. While recently the field of quantum batteries has attracted much attention, optimization of their charging has not benefited from the quantum control methods. Here we fill this gap by using an optimization method. We apply for the first time the convergent iterative method for the control of the population of a bipartite quantum system in two cases, starting with a qubit-qubit case. The quantum charger-battery system is considered here, where the energy is pumped into the charger by an external classical electromagnetic field. Secondly, we systematically extend our investigation to a second case involving two harmonic oscillators in the Gaussian regime, presenting an original formulation of the method. In both cases, the charger is considered to be an open dissipative system, as its interaction with the drive may require a more pronounced exposure to general interaction with environment. A key consideration in our optimization strategy is the practical concern of turning the charging external field on and off. We find that optimizing the pulse shape yields a substantial enhancement in both the power and efficiency of the charging process compared to a sinusoidal drive. The harmonic oscillator configuration of quantum batteries is particularly intriguing, as the optimal driving pulse remains effective regardless of the environmental temperature. This study introduces a novel approach to quantum battery charging optimization, opening avenues for enhanced performance in real-world applications.
We present a systematic analysis and classification of several models of quantum batteries involving different combinations of two-level systems and quantum harmonic oscillators. In particular, we study energy-transfer processes from a given quantum system, termed a ``charger,'' to another one, i.e., the proper ``battery.'' In this setting, we analyze different figures of merit, including the charging time, the maximum energy transfer, and the average charging power. The role of coupling Hamiltonians which do not preserve the number of local excitations in the charger-battery system is clarified by properly accounting for them in the global energy balance of the model.