{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,6]],"date-time":"2026-03-06T02:13:12Z","timestamp":1772763192418,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,20]],"date-time":"2020-06-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1592611200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Entropy"],"abstract":"<jats:p>We investigate the quantum thermodynamics of two quantum systems, a two-level system and a four-level quantum photocell, each driven by photon pulses as a quantum heat engine. We set these systems to be in thermal contact only with a cold reservoir while the heat (energy) source, conventionally given from a hot thermal reservoir, is supplied by a sequence of photon pulses. The dynamics of each system is governed by a coherent interaction due to photon pulses in terms of the Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian together with the system-bath interaction described by the Lindblad master equation. We calculate the thermodynamic quantities for the two-level system and the quantum photocell including the change in system energy, the power delivered by photon pulses, the power output to an external load, the heat dissipated to a cold bath, and the entropy production. We thereby demonstrate how a quantum photocell in the cold bath can operate as a continuum quantum heat engine with a sequence of photon pulses continuously applied. We specifically introduce the power efficiency of the quantum photocell in terms of the ratio of output power delivered to an external load with current and voltage to the input power delivered by the photon pulse. Our study indicates a possibility that a quantum system driven by external fields can act as an efficient quantum heat engine under non-equilibrium thermodynamics.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/e22060693","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,22]],"date-time":"2020-06-22T06:46:12Z","timestamp":1592808372000},"page":"693","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Quantum Photovoltaic Cells Driven by Photon Pulses"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3983-9877","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sangchul","family":"Oh","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation, P.O. Box 5825 Doha, Qatar"}]},{"given":"Jung Jun","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Korea Institute for Advanced Study, 85 Hoegiro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02455, Korea"}]},{"given":"Hyunchul","family":"Nha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics, Texas A&amp;M University at Qatar, Education City, P.O. Box 23874 Doha, Qatar"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"510","DOI":"10.1063\/1.1736034","article-title":"Detailed Balance Limit of Efficiency of p-n Junction Solar Cells","volume":"32","author":"Shockley","year":"1961","journal-title":"J. Appl. Phys."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"207701","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevLett.104.207701","article-title":"Quantum Photocell: Using Quantum Coherence to Reduce Radiative Recombination and Increase Efficiency","volume":"104","author":"Scully","year":"2010","journal-title":"Phys. Rev. Lett."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"15097","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1110234108","article-title":"Quantum heat engine power can be increased by noise-induced coherence","volume":"108","author":"Scully","year":"2011","journal-title":"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"053818","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevA.84.053818","article-title":"Enhancing photovoltaic power by Fano-induced coherence","volume":"84","author":"Svidzinsky","year":"2011","journal-title":"Phys. Rev. A"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"253601","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevLett.111.253601","article-title":"Efficient Biologically Inspired Photocell Enhanced by Delocalized Quantum States","volume":"111","author":"Creatore","year":"2013","journal-title":"Phys. Rev. Lett."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5743","DOI":"10.1039\/C4CP05310A","article-title":"Delocalized quantum states enhance photocell efficiency","volume":"17","author":"Zhang","year":"2015","journal-title":"Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"203603","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevLett.117.203603","article-title":"Photocell Optimization Using Dark State Protection","volume":"117","author":"Fruchtman","year":"2016","journal-title":"Phys. Rev. Lett."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20714","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.jpcc.7b07138","article-title":"Quantum-Enhanced Capture of Photons Using Optical Ratchet States","volume":"121","author":"Higgins","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Phys. Chem. C"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2746","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1212666110","article-title":"Photosynthetic reaction center as a quantum heat engine","volume":"110","author":"Dorfman","year":"2013","journal-title":"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"155102","DOI":"10.1063\/1.4932307","article-title":"Enhancing light-harvesting power with coherent vibrational interactions: A quantum heat engine picture","volume":"143","author":"Killoran","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"197701","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevLett.115.197701","article-title":"Exciton Lifetime Paradoxically Enhanced by Dissipation and Decoherence: Toward Efficient Energy Conversion of a Solar Cell","volume":"115","author":"Yamada","year":"2015","journal-title":"Phys. Rev. Lett."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6871","DOI":"10.1039\/C7SC02983G","article-title":"On the performance of a photosystem II reaction centre-based photocell","volume":"8","author":"Stones","year":"2017","journal-title":"Chem. Sci."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"365","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-physchem-040513-103724","article-title":"Quantum Heat Engines and Refrigerators: Continuous Devices","volume":"65","author":"Kosloff","year":"2014","journal-title":"Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem."},{"key":"ref_14","first-page":"031044","article-title":"Equivalence of Quantum Heat Machines, and Quantum-Thermodynamic Signatures","volume":"5","author":"Uzdin","year":"2015","journal-title":"Phys. Rev. X"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"262","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevLett.2.262","article-title":"Three-Level Masers as Heat Engines","volume":"2","author":"Scovil","year":"1959","journal-title":"Phys. Rev. Lett."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125857","DOI":"10.1016\/j.physleta.2019.125857","article-title":"Efficiency and power enhancement of solar cells by dark states","volume":"383","author":"Oh","year":"2019","journal-title":"Phys. Lett. A"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2348","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.jpclett.9b03490","article-title":"Classification of Coherent Enhancements of Light-Harvesting Processes","volume":"11","author":"Tomasi","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Phys. Chem. Lett."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1007\/BF01608499","article-title":"On the generators of quantum dynamical semigroups","volume":"48","author":"Lindblad","year":"1976","journal-title":"Commun. Math. Phys."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"821","DOI":"10.1063\/1.522979","article-title":"Completely positive dynamical semigroups of N-level systems","volume":"17","author":"Gorini","year":"1976","journal-title":"J. Math. Phys."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"Alicki, R., and Lendi, K. (1984). Quantum Dynamical Semigroup and Applications, Springer."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Breuer, H.P., and Petruccione, F. (2002). The Theory of Open Quantum Systems, Oxford University Press.","DOI":"10.1007\/3-540-44874-8_4"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rivas, \u00c1., and Huelga, S.F. (2012). Open Quantum Systems, Springer. [1st ed.].","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-23354-8"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1227","DOI":"10.1063\/1.523789","article-title":"Entropy production for quantum dynamical semigroups","volume":"19","author":"Spohn","year":"1978","journal-title":"J. Math. Phys."},{"key":"ref_24","first-page":"109","article-title":"Irreversible Thermodynamics for Quantum Systems Weakly Coupled to Thermal Reservoirs","volume":"Volume XXXVIII","author":"Rice","year":"1978","journal-title":"Advances in Chemical Physics"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"L103","DOI":"10.1088\/0305-4470\/12\/5\/007","article-title":"The quantum open system as a model of the heat engine","volume":"12","author":"Alicki","year":"1979","journal-title":"J. Phys. Math. Gen."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"012205","DOI":"10.1063\/1.4997044","article-title":"Fundamental limits on quantum dynamics based on entropy change","volume":"59","author":"Das","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Math. Phys."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"89","DOI":"10.1109\/PROC.1963.1664","article-title":"Comparison of quantum and semiclassical radiation theories with application to the beam maser","volume":"51","author":"Jaynes","year":"1963","journal-title":"Proc. IEEE"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Orszag, M. (2016). Quantum Optics, Springer International Publishing.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-29037-9"},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"Loudon, R. (1973). The Quantum Theory of Light, Clarendon Press."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"063842","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevA.83.063842","article-title":"Efficient excitation of a two-level atom by a single photon in a propagating mode","volume":"83","author":"Wang","year":"2011","journal-title":"Phys. Rev. A"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"054002","DOI":"10.1088\/1361-6455\/aa9c95","article-title":"Single-photon absorption by single photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes","volume":"51","author":"Chan","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Phys. B Atomic Mol. Opt. Phys."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Carmichael, H. (1993). An Open Systems Approach to Quantum Optics, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-47620-7"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mandel, L., and Wolf, E. (1995). Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics, Cambridge University Press.","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9781139644105"},{"key":"ref_34","unstructured":"Press, W.H., Teukolsky, S.A., Vetterling, W.T., and Flannery, B.P. (2007). Numerical Recipes 3rd Edition: The Art of Scientific Computing, Cambridge University Press. [3rd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"012119","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevE.90.012119","article-title":"Optimal efficiency of a noisy quantum heat engine","volume":"90","author":"Stefanatos","year":"2014","journal-title":"Phys. Rev. E"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Alvarado Barrios, G., Pe\u00f1a, F.J., Albarr\u00e1n-Arriagada, F., Vargas, P., and Retamal, J.C. (2018). Quantum Mechanical Engine for the Quantum Rabi Model. Entropy, 20.","DOI":"10.20944\/preprints201808.0324.v1"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"012116","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevE.101.012116","article-title":"Quasistatic and quantum-adiabatic Otto engine for a two-dimensional material: The case of a graphene quantum dot","volume":"101","author":"Zambrano","year":"2020","journal-title":"Phys. Rev. E"},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"904","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-018-03312-x","article-title":"Studying light-harvesting models with superconducting circuits","volume":"9","author":"Bargerbos","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nat. Commun."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"202","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-018-08090-0","article-title":"Quantum absorption refrigerator with trapped ions","volume":"10","author":"Maslennikov","year":"2019","journal-title":"Nat. Commun."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cherubim, C., Brito, F., and Deffner, S. (2019). Non-Thermal Quantum Engine in Transmon Qubits. Entropy, 21.","DOI":"10.3390\/e21060545"}],"container-title":["Entropy"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1099-4300\/22\/6\/693\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T09:41:18Z","timestamp":1760175678000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1099-4300\/22\/6\/693"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,20]]},"references-count":40,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,6]]}},"alternative-id":["e22060693"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/e22060693","relation":{},"ISSN":["1099-4300"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1099-4300","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,20]]}}}