Submitted by Dr Nalin Patel on Thu, 10/04/2014 - 12:57
Collaboration with Microsoft Research produces first results on quantum heat engine
A collaboration between Winton Advanced Research Fellow Alex Chin and colleagues at the Cavendish and Stephen Emmott, Head of Computational Science at MSR Cambridge, has produced its first results. In a paper in PRL (Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 253601 (2013) ) they describe a model system inspired by photosynthetic plants which shows enhanced efficiency due to quantum correlations between light absorbing molecules. This marks another step towards an understanding of the role of quantum mechanics in biology. The project will continue with MSR supporting a PhD student to expand the scope of the work, making links between the thermodynamics and information storage properties of these systems.
The article synopsis and links to article: http://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.253601