Chinese scientists build atom-sized ‘4-stroke’ quantum engine
- Researchers use lasers to increase or suppress an ion’s quantum characteristics and generate power at microscopic level
- The novel approach is outside mainstream quantum theory and divided scientific opinion during the peer-review submission process
By using a laser to precisely manipulate the state of a quantum ion, Professor Feng Mang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Physics and Mathematics in Wuhan has overcome a barrier to running a power system at the microscopic scale.
The research was published in October in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications, in cooperation with scientists from the Guangzhou Institute of Industry Technology, Zhengzhou University and the University of Michigan.
Quantum systems are especially sensitive to outside interference but an energy exchange with the outside world is inevitable. A breakthrough in laser technique led to a quantum engine that could resist external disturbances, the paper said.
A steam engine goes through four thermodynamic modes in a complete operating cycle known as four-stroke – adiabatic compression, isovolumic heating, adiabatic expansion and isovolumic cooling.
In Feng’s quantum engine, a single calcium ion acts as a steam-like working medium and the compression or heating processes of the cycle are pushed by laser beams of different frequencies and intensities.
The engine generates power in the form of light, which varies in intensity, making the mode changes of the ion observable.