An atomic symmetry-controlled thermal switch

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to control heat transfer between thermal baths using a diatomic system in an optical cavity, where atomic symmetry determines photon flow, enabling a switch for energy transfer.

Contribution

The study demonstrates a novel atomic symmetry-based control scheme for thermal energy flow using external driving fields to prepare specific atomic states.

Findings

Photon flow varies significantly with atomic symmetry.

External fields can prepare symmetric or antisymmetric atomic states.

The system acts as a controllable thermal switch.

Abstract

We propose a simple diatomic system trapped inside an optical cavity to control the energy flow between two thermal baths. Through the action of the baths the system is driven to a non- equilibrium steady state. Using the Large Deviation theory we show that the number of photons flowing between the two baths is dramatically different depending on the symmetry of the atomic states. Here we present a deterministic scheme to prepare symmetric and antisymmetric atomic states with the use of external driving fields, thus implementing an atomic control switch for the energy flow.