Photo-Carnot engine
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A Photo-Carnot engine is a Carnot cycle engine in which the working medium is a photon inside a cavity with perfectly reflecting walls. Radiation is the working fluid, and the piston is driven by radiation pressure.
A quantum Carnot engine in which the atoms in the heat bath are given a small bit of quantum coherence. The phase of the atomic coherence provides a new control parameter.
The deep physics behind the second law of thermodynamics is not violated; nevertheless, the quantum Carnot engine has certain features that are not possible in a classical engine.
[edit] Further reading
- Marlan O. Scully, et al. (2003-02-07). "Extracting Work from a Single Heat Bath via Vanishing Quantum Coherence". Science 299 (5608): 862–864. doi:.
- Zubairy, M. Suhail (2002). "The Photo-Carnot Cycle: The Preparation Energy for Atomic Coherence". QUANTUM LIMITS TO THE SECOND LAW: First International Conference on Quantum Limits to the Second Law. AIP Conference Proceedings 643: 92–97. doi:10.1063/1.1523787.
[edit] See also
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