Erlangen 2022 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 30: Quantum Optics (Miscellaneous) IV

Q 30.2: Vortrag

Mittwoch, 16. März 2022, 11:00–11:15, Q-H14

Nonequilibrium time-crystal quantum engine — •Federico Carollo¹, Kay Brandner², and Igor Lesanovsky¹ — ¹Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 14, 72076 Tübingen, Germany — ²School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

Nonequilibrium many-body quantum systems can host intriguing phenomena such as transitions to exotic dynamical phases of matter. Although this emergent behaviour can nowadays be observed in experiments, its potential for technological applications is largely unexplored. Here, we propose a new type of nonequilibrium many-body quantum engine and investigate the impact of collective effects on its working principles as well as on its power output. For concreteness, we consider an optomechanical cavity setup with an interacting atomic gas as a working fluid and we demonstrate theoretically that such engines produce work under periodic driving. The stationary cycle of the working fluid features nonequilibrium phase transitions, resulting in abrupt changes of the power output. Remarkably, we find that our many-body quantum engine operates even without periodic driving. This phenomenon occurs when its working fluid enters a phase that breaks continuous time-translation symmetry: this so-called emergent time-crystalline phase can sustain the motion of a load generating mechanical work. Our findings pave the way for designing novel nonequilibrium quantum machines.