Extracting Work from a Single Heat Bath via Vanishing Quantum Coherence
Abstract
We present here a quantum Carnot engine in which the atoms in the heat bath are given a small bit of quantum coherence. The induced quantum coherence becomes vanishingly small in the high-temperature limit at which we operate and the heat bath is essentially thermal. However, the phase φ, associated with the atomic coherence, provides a new control parameter that can be varied to increase the temperature of the radiation field and to extract work from a single heat bath. The deep physics behind the second law of thermodynamics is not violated; nevertheless, the quantum Carnot engine has certain features that are not possible in a classical engine.
- Publication:
-
Science
- Pub Date:
- February 2003
- DOI:
- 10.1126/science.1078955
- Bibcode:
- 2003Sci...299..862S
- Keywords:
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- PHYSICS