- Editors' Suggestion
Analog of a Quantum Heat Engine Using a Single-Spin Qubit
Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 166802 – Published 15 October, 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.166802
Abstract
A quantum two-level system with periodically modulated energy splitting could provide a minimal universal quantum heat machine. We present the experimental realization and the theoretical description of such a two-level system as an impurity electron spin in a silicon tunnel field-effect transistor. In the incoherent regime, the system can behave analogously to either an Otto heat engine or a refrigerator. The coherent regime could be described as a superposition of those two regimes, producing specific interference fringes in the observed source-drain current.