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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Violating the thermodynamic uncertainty relation in the three-level maser

Alex Arash Sand Kalaee1, Andreas Wacker1, and Patrick P. Potts1,2

  • 1Mathematical Physics and NanoLund, Lund University, Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, 4056 Basel, Switzerland

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Phys. Rev. E 104, L012103 – Published 26 July, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.104.L012103

Abstract

Nanoscale heat engines are subject to large fluctuations which affect their precision. The thermodynamic uncertainty relation (TUR) provides a trade-off between output power, fluctuations, and entropic cost. This trade-off may be overcome by systems exhibiting quantum coherence. This Letter provides a study of the TUR in a prototypical quantum heat engine, the Scovil–Schulz-DuBois maser. Comparison with a classical reference system allows us to determine the effect of quantum coherence on the performance of the heat engine. We identify analytically regions where coherence suppresses fluctuations, implying a quantum advantage, as well as regions where fluctuations are enhanced by coherence. This quantum effect cannot be anticipated from the off-diagonal elements of the density matrix. Because the fluctuations are not encoded in the steady state alone, TUR violations are a consequence of coherence that goes beyond steady-state coherence. While the system violates the conventional TUR, it adheres to a recent formulation of a quantum TUR. We further show that parameters where the engine operates close to the conventional limit are prevalent and TUR violations in the quantum model are not uncommon.

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Phys. Rev. E 104, L012103– Published 26 July, 2021
  • Received 13 March 2021
  • Accepted 29 June 2021
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by Bibsam.

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