Quantum spin-heat engine with trapped ions

TL;DR

This paper proposes a trapped-ion implementation of a quantum spin-heat engine that operates between spin and energy reservoirs, demonstrating a novel approach to quantum thermodynamics beyond traditional heat engines.

Contribution

It introduces a practical ion-trap setup for a spin-heat engine that utilizes spin reservoirs and quantum coherence, expanding the scope of quantum thermodynamic machines.

Findings

First implementation of a spin-heat engine with trapped ions

Demonstrates conversion of heat into optical work via Raman transitions

Shows potential for harnessing quantum coherence in thermodynamic processes

Abstract

We propose an ion-trap implementation of the Vaccaro, Barnett and Wright et al. spin-heat engine (SHE); a hypothetical engine that operates between energy and spin thermal reservoirs rather than two energy reservoirs. The SHE operates in two steps: first, in the work extraction stage, heat from a thermal energy reservoir is converted into optical work via a two photon Raman transition resonant with close-to energy degenerate spin states; second, the internal spin states are brought back to their initial state via non-energetic information erasure using a spin reservoir. The latter incurs no energy cost, but rather the reset occurs at the cost of angular momentum from a spin bath that acts as the thermal spin reservoir. The SHE represents an important first step toward demonstrating heat engines that operate beyond the conventional paradigm of requiring two thermal reservoirs, paving the way to harness quantum coherence in arbitrary conserved quantities via similar machines.