RQC Colloquium

22nd RQC Colloquium

• Speaker

  Prof. Eric Lutz
  (University of Stuttgart)

• Date

  16:00-17:00 (JST), March 19, 2024 (Tuesday)

• Venue

  Hybrid(Zoom・Wako Welfare and Conf. 2F Large Meeting Room)

• Title

  Converting quantum statistics into work

• Inquiries

  rqc_colloquium_inquiry[at]ml.riken.jp

Abstract
Heat engines convert thermal energy into mechanical work both in the classical and quantum regimes. However, quantum theory offers genuine non-classical forms of energy, different from heat, which so far have not been exploited in cyclic engines. I will present an experimental realization a quantum many-body engine fuelled by the energy difference between fermionic and bosonic ensembles of ultracold particles that follows from the Pauli exclusion principle. Employing a harmonically trapped superfluid gas of Li atoms close to a magnetic Feshbach resonance allows one of effectively change the quantum statistics from Bose–Einstein to Fermi–Dirac, by tuning the gas between a Bose–Einstein condensate of bosonic molecules and a unitary Fermi gas (and back) through a magnetic field. The quantum nature of such a Pauli engine is revealed by contrasting it with an engine in the classical thermal regime and with a purely interaction-driven device. These results establish quantum statistics as a useful thermodynamic resource for work production [1].

[1] Koch et al., A quantum engine in the BEC–BCS crossover, Nature 621, 723-727 (2023).

Flyer: 22nd RQC Colloquium Flyer