Squeezing as the source of inefficiency in the quantum Otto cycle

The availability of controllable macroscopic devices, which maintain quantum coherence over relatively long time intervals, for the first time allows an experimental realization of many effects previously considered only as Gedankenexperiments, such as the operation of quantum heat engines. The theoretical efficiency \eta of quantum heat engines is restricted by the same Carnot boundary \eta_C as for the classical ones: any deviations from quasistatic evolution suppressing \eta below \eta_C. Here we investigate an implementation of an analog of the Otto cycle in a tunable quantum coherent circuit and show that the specific source of inefficiency is the quantum squeezing of the thermal state due to the finite speed of compression/expansion of the system.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

Entangling continuous variables with a qubit array

We show that an array of qubits embedded in a waveguide can emit entangled pairs of microwave photon beams. The quadratures obtained from a homodyne detection of these outputs beams form a pair of correlated continuous variables similarly to the EPR experiment. The photon pairs are produced by the decay of plasmon-like collective excitations in the qubit array. The maximum intensity of the resulting beams is only bounded by the number of emitters. We calculate the excitation decay rate both into a continuum of photon state and into a one-mode cavity. We also determine the frequency of Rabi-like oscillations resulting from a detuning.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Time-dependent Real-space Renormalization-Group Approach: application to an adiabatic random quantum Ising model

We develop a time-dependent real-space renormalization-group approach which can be applied to Hamiltonians with time-dependent random terms. To illustrate the renormalization-group analysis, we focus on the quantum Ising Hamiltonian with random site- and time-dependent (adiabatic) transverse-field and nearest-neighbour exchange couplings. We demonstrate how the method works in detail, by calculating the off-critical flows and recovering the ground state properties of the Hamiltonian such as magnetization and correlation functions. The adiabatic time allows us to traverse the parameter space, remaining near-to the ground state which is broadened if the rate of change of the Hamiltonian is finite. The quantum critical point, or points, depend on time through the time-dependence of the parameters of the Hamiltonian. We, furthermore, make connections with Kibble-Zurek dynamics and provide a scaling argument for the density of defects as we adiabatically pass through the critical point of the system