Coherence-enhanced constancy of a quantum thermoelectric generator

Abstract

The study shows that presence of the quantum coherent, unitary component of the evolution of the system can improve constancy of heat engines, i.e., decrease fluctuations of the output power, in comparison with purely stochastic setups. This enables to overcome the recently derived trade-off between efficiency, power and constancy, which applies to classical Markovian steady-state heat engines. The concept is demonstrated using a model system consisting of two tunnel-coupled orbitals (i.e., electronic levels), each attached to a separate electronic reservoir; such a setup can be realized, for example, using quantum dots. Electronic transport is studied by means of the exact Levitov-Lesovik formula in the case without the Coulomb interaction between electrons, as well as applying a quantum master equation in the interacting case. Constancy of the analyzed thermoelectric generator is increased due to the fact that tunneling between the orbitals is associated with a unitary evolution of the electron state instead of a stochastic Poisson transition. This reduces stochasticity of the system, thus suppressing the current and power fluctuations. Moreover, noise can be further reduced by the Coulomb interaction between electrons which prevents the double occupancy of the system.