Optimal quantum interference thermoelectric heat engine with edge states

TL;DR

This paper proposes a quantum interference-based thermoelectric heat engine using chiral edge states, achieving near-optimal efficiency and power, and is feasible with current experimental methods.

Contribution

It introduces a novel quantum interference thermoelectric engine with near-maximum performance using edge states in an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

Findings

Maximum power reaches 90% of the theoretical limit.

Efficiency can reach 83% of the maximum.

Performance remains robust against moderate dephasing.

Abstract

We show theoretically that a thermoelectric heat engine, operating exclusively due to quantum-mechanical interference, can reach optimal linear-response performance. A chiral edge state implementation of a close-to-optimal heat engine is proposed in an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a mesoscopic capacitor coupled to one arm. We demonstrate that the maximum power and corresponding efficiency can reach 90\% and 83\%, respectively, of the theoretical maximum. The proposed heat engine can be realized with existing experimental techniques and has a performance robust against moderate dephasing.