Design and characterization of a quantum heat pump in a driven quantum gas

TL;DR

This paper proposes a quantum heat pump using ultracold atoms and driven quantum dots, analyzing its operation through Floquet theory and numerical simulations, revealing the role of micromotion in heating effects.

Contribution

It introduces a novel quantum heat pump design with ultracold atoms, combining analytical and numerical methods to characterize its performance and heating mechanisms.

Findings

Heat pump operates via energy-selective resonant tunneling.

Driving-induced heating is linked to Floquet state micromotion.

Analytical estimates align with numerical Floquet-Born-Markov simulations.

Abstract

We propose the implementation of a quantum heat pump with ultracold atoms. It is based on two periodically driven coherently coupled quantum dots using ultracold atoms. Each dot possesses two relevant quantum states and is coupled to a fermionic reservoir. The working principle is based on energy-selective driving-induced resonant tunneling processes, where a particle that tunnels from one dot to the other either absorbs or emits the energy quantum $\hbar\omega$ associated with the driving frequency, depending on its energy. We characterize the device using Floquet theory and compare simple analytical estimates to numerical simulations based on the Floquet-Born-Markov formalism. In particular, we show that driving-induced heating is directly linked to the micromotion of the Floquet states of the system.