Abstract:
We demonstrate how the reciprocating heat cycle of a quantum Otto engine (QOE)
can be implemented using a single ion and an always-on thermal environment. The internal
degree of freedom of the ion is chosen as the working fluid, while the motional degree of freedom
can be used as the cold bath. We show, that by adiabatically changing the local magnetic field,
the work efficiency can be asymptotically made unity. We propose a projective measurement of
the internal state of the ion that mimics the release of heat from the working fluid during the
engine cycle. In our proposal, the coupling to the hot and the cold baths need not be switched
off and on in an alternate fashion during the engine cycle, unlike other existing proposals of
QOE. This renders the proposal experimentally feasible using the available tapped-ion engineering
technology.
