2018/07/31 by T Motz, Thomas Motz, Michael Wiedmann +5
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Anharmonicity #Focus (optics) #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Mesoscopic physics #Nonlinear system #Quantum #Quantum thermodynamics #Rectification #Thermal #Thermal properties of materials #cond-mat.stat-mech #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/aaea90
published as T. Motz et al 2018 New J. Phys. 20 113020 · 32 pages, 15 figures; title, abstract and introduction modified; a further figure included (figure 12 right); further references added; minor typos corrected
arxiv created 2018/10/22 · openalex publication_date 2018/10/24 · openalex created_date 2018/10/26 · arxiv updated 2018/11/21 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Within the emerging field of quantum thermodynamics the issues of heat transfer and heat rectification are basic ingredients for the understanding and design of heat engines or refrigerators at nanoscales. Here, a consistent and versatile approach for mesoscopic devices operating with continuous degrees of freedom is developed valid from low up to strong system-reservoir couplings and over the whole temperature range. It allows to cover weak to moderate nonlinearities and is applicable to various scenarios including the presence of disorder and external time-dependent fields. As a particular application coherent one-dimensional chains of anharmonic oscillators terminated by thermal reservoirs are analyzed with particular focus on rectification. The efficiency of the method opens a door to treat also rather long chains and extensions to higher dimensions and geometries.