A photonic quantum engine driven by superradiance
- Authors
- Kim, Jinuk; Oh, Seung-hoon; Yang, Daeho; Kim, Junki; Lee, Moonjoo; An, Kyungwon
- Issue Date
- Oct-2022
- Publisher
- NATURE PORTFOLIO
- Citation
- NATURE PHOTONICS, v.16, no.10, pp.707 - +
- Journal Title
- NATURE PHOTONICS
- Volume
- 16
- Number
- 10
- Start Page
- 707
- End Page
- +
- URI
- https://scholarworks.bwise.kr/gachon/handle/2020.sw.gachon/87283
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41566-022-01039-2
- ISSN
- 1749-4885
- Abstract
- A superradiant photonic engine is developed by using a Ba-138 atomic beam and a high-finesse optical cavity. The mirrors of a Fabry-Perot cavity act as the piston of an engine. The achieved engine temperature and efficiency are 1.5 x 10(5) K and 98%, respectively. Performance of nano- and microscale heat engines can be improved with the help of quantum-mechanical phenomena. Recently, heat reservoirs with quantum coherence have been proposed to enhance engine performance beyond the Carnot limit even with a single reservoir. However, no physical realizations have been achieved so far. Here we report the first proof-of-principle experimental demonstration of a photonic quantum engine driven by superradiance employing a single heat reservoir composed of atoms and photonic vacuum. Reservoir atoms prepared in a quantum coherent superposition state underwent superradiance as they traversed the cavity. This led to about 40-fold increase in the effective engine temperature, resulting in near-unity engine efficiency. Moreover, the observed engine output power grew quadratically with respect to the atomic injection rate. Our work can be utilized in quantum-mechanical heat transfer as well as in boosting engine powers, opening a pathway to the development of photomechanical devices that run on quantum coherence embedded in heat baths.
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