Quantum Zeno Engines and Heat Pumps

TL;DR

This paper explores quantum Zeno-based engines and heat pumps, demonstrating that frequent measurements can replace adiabatic processes to achieve efficient, rapid thermodynamic transformations in quantum systems.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach using quantum Zeno effects for quantum thermodynamic cycles, outperforming shortcut-to-adiabaticity methods in speed.

Findings

Quantum Zeno strokes enable near-ideal isentropic transformations.

Optimal heat pump performance is achieved faster than with shortcut-to-adiabaticity.

The approach is demonstrated with a quantum harmonic oscillator.

Abstract

We study the implementation of quantum engines and quantum heat pumps where the quantum adiabatic transformations are replaced by quantum Zeno strokes. During these strokes, frequent measurements are selectively performed on the external state of the system avoiding transition between different levels. This effectively delivers almost ideal isentropic transformations. We concentrate on the characterization of the performance of a quantum Zeno heat pump implemented with a quantum harmonic oscillator, showing that optimal performance can be achieved faster than with shortcut-to-adiabaticity techniques.