Quantum Photovoltaic Cells Driven by Photon Pulses

TL;DR

This paper explores how quantum systems like two-level and four-level photocells can operate as efficient quantum heat engines driven by photon pulses, analyzing their thermodynamic behavior and energy conversion efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces a model of quantum photocells driven by photon pulses as quantum heat engines and evaluates their thermodynamic performance and efficiency.

Findings

Quantum photocells can operate as continuum heat engines with photon pulse driving.

The study quantifies power output, efficiency, and entropy production in quantum thermodynamic cycles.

External photon-driven quantum systems have potential as efficient non-equilibrium heat engines.

Abstract

We investigate the quantum thermodynamics of two quantum systems, a two-level system and a four-level quantum photocell, each driven by photon pulses as a quantum heat engine. We set these systems to be in thermal contact only with a cold reservoir while the heat (energy) source, conventionally given from a hot thermal reservoir, is supplied by a sequence of photon pulses. The dynamics of each system is governed by a coherent interaction due to photon pulses in terms of the Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian together with the system-bath interaction described by the Lindblad master equation. We calculate the thermodynamic quantities for the two-level system and the quantum photocell including the change in system energy, power delivered by photon pulses, power output to an external load, heat dissipated to a cold bath, and entropy production. We thereby demonstrate how a quantum photocell in the cold bath can operate as a continuum quantum heat engine with the sequence of photon pulses continuously applied. We specifically introduce the power efficiency of the quantum photocell in terms of the ratio of output power delivered to an external load with current and voltage to the input power delivered by the photon pulse. Our study indicates a possibility that a quantum system driven by external fields can act as an efficient quantum heat engine under non-equilibrium thermodynamics.