Work flux and efficiency at maximum power of a triply squeezed engine

TL;DR

This paper investigates how quantum squeezing influences the thermodynamics and efficiency of a coherent heat engine, revealing that squeezing can enhance maximum power efficiency beyond classical limits and alter flux optimization.

Contribution

It introduces a model of a quantum heat engine with squeezed reservoirs and cavity, showing novel effects of squeezing on flux optimization and efficiency at maximum power.

Findings

Flux optimization beyond classical limits is suppressed by squeezing.

Efficiency at maximum power exceeds Curzon-Ahlborn predictions under squeezing.

The EMP slope with respect to reservoir squeezing is linear in Carnot efficiency, differing from universal expectations.

Abstract

We explore the effects of quantum mechanical squeezing on the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of a coherent heat engine with squeezed reservoirs coupled to a squeezed cavity. We observe that the standard known phenomenon of flux-optimization beyond the classical limit with respect to quantum coherence is destroyed in presence of squeezing. Under extreme nonequilibrium conditions, the flux is rendered independent of squeezing. The efficiency at maximum power (EMP) obtained by optimizing the cavity's squeezing parameter is greater than what was predicted by Curzon and Ahlborn even in the absence of reservoir squeezing. The EMP with respect to the either of reservoirs' squeezing parameters is surprisingly equal and linear in $\eta_C$ with a slope unequal to the universally accepted slope, 1/2. The slope is found to be proportional to the dissipation into the cavity mode and an intercept equal to a specific numerical value of the engine's efficiency.