Quantum heat engine based on photon-assisted Cooper pair tunneling

TL;DR

This paper introduces a mesoscopic quantum heat engine utilizing photon-assisted Cooper pair tunneling in a Josephson junction coupled to microwave cavities, achieving high power and efficiency through energy-selective processes.

Contribution

It presents a novel quantum heat engine design that leverages resonant Cooper pair tunneling with photon exchange, demonstrating high efficiency and power in a mesoscopic system.

Findings

High efficiency due to energy-selective Cooper pair tunneling

Separation of heat current from charge current

Potential for high-power quantum heat engines

Abstract

We propose and analyze a simple mesoscopic quantum heat engine that exhibits both high-power and high-efficiency. The system consists of a biased Josephson junction coupled to two microwave cavities, with each cavity coupled to a thermal bath. Resonant Cooper pair tunneling occurs with the exchange of photons between cavities, and a temperature difference between the baths can naturally lead to a current against the voltage, and hence work. As a consequence of the unique properties of Cooper-pair tunneling, the heat current is completely separated from the charge current. This combined with the strong energy-selectivity of the process leads to an extremely high efficiency.