Quantum Otto Engine With Coherence in Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics

Abstract A scheme is theoretically proposed to investigate a quantum Otto engine (QOE) based on cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) systems, where the working substance consists of a single‐mode optical cavity coupled to either one or two identical two‐level atoms, corresponding to the Jaynes–Cummings (JC) and Tavis–Cummings (TC) models, respectively. These results show that quantum coherence can enhance the efficiency of the quantum Otto heat engine (QOHE) and that the QOE can operate in various thermodynamic modes, such as a heat engine, refrigerator, or heater. Building on these two cavity QED models, it is further demonstrated that increasing the number of atoms leads to an exponential enhancement in the work output of the QOHE. Finally, a localized quantum engine is analyzed by tracing out one of the atoms in the TC model and show that the local system can achieve an efficiency comparable to that of the global system. This work establishes a novel theoretical framework for understanding and optimizing the performance of quantum heat engines in cavity QED platforms.