Cited by 475Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical MechanicsQuantum Information and CryptographyAdvanced Thermodynamic Systems and Engines

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 18 of the 18 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 4 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Quantacell: powerful charging of quantum batteries

Open access
Binder, Felix C, Vinjanampathy, Sai, Modi, Kavan, Goold, John·2015·New Journal of Physics

Abstract

We study the problem of charging a quantum battery in finite time. We demonstrate an analytical optimal protocol for the case of a single qubit. Extending this analysis to an array of N qubits, we demonstrate that an N-fold advantage in power per qubit can be achieved when global operations are permitted. The exemplary analytic argument for this quantum advantage in the charging power is backed up by numerical analysis using optimal control techniques. It is demonstrated that the quantum advantage for power holds when, with cyclic operation in mind, initial and final states are required to be separable.

Overview

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TL;DR

The paper derives an analytical optimal protocol for charging a single-qubit quantum battery in finite time and extends it to arrays of N qubits. It shows that global entangling operations can yield an N-fold advantage in power per qubit over local parallel charging, even when initial and final states are separable.

Key findings

  • For a single qubit, the power-optimal driving is along a geodesic at constant angular speed \(E_{\max}\), with no driving along the reference Hamiltonian direction.
  • For an array of N qubits, global driving with the same maximum energy gap \(E_{\max}^{(N)}=N E_{\max}\) achieves an N-fold increase in power per qubit compared with parallel local driving.
  • The quantum advantage persists under cyclic operation with separable initial and final states; entanglement appears only during the protocol.
  • Numerical optimal control for full charging shows the minimum charging time scales as \(1/N\), and for a four-qubit solution entanglement across the 12–34 bipartition vanishes at the start and end.

Methods

  • Analytical derivation for a single qubit using the von Neumann equation, Bloch-sphere parametrization, and optimization of a family of objective functions interpolating power and ergotropy under a trace-norm bound on the driving Hamiltonian.
  • Extension to N-qubit arrays comparing parallel local driving with global entangling driving, with average work per qubit set to unity in the examples.
  • Numerical optimal control for full charging of N qubits and for entanglement dynamics in a four-qubit numerical solution.

Limitations

  • Stated: a full optimization over all possible unitary transformations is not analytically feasible, so the N-qubit advantage is demonstrated with a specific evolution.
  • Stated: future work is needed to allow for degradation/purifying stages and to generalize the approach to open systems with noise and decoherence.
  • Evident: the analysis assumes ideal cyclic unitary dynamics and purity preservation; no experimental implementation or realistic noise model is provided.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1088/1367-2630/17/7/075015

Cites

18 of 18 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Claims the paper makes

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Citations

Cites

Show all 17 references

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. 10.1103/physreve.91.032118 · DOI
  2. Mandelstam L, 1945, J. Phys. (USSR), 9, 249
  3. 10.1103/physrevlett.111.260501 · DOI · Paper page

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Metadata

Authors
Binder, F. C., Vinjanampathy, S., Modi, K., & Goold, J.
Affiliations
  • University of Oxford (GB)
  • Centre for Quantum Technologies (SG)
  • Monash University (AU)
  • The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) (IT)
Venue
New Journal of Physics
Published
2015-07-22
Volume
17
Issue
7
Pages
075015
ISSN
1367-2630 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1526062388
Cited by
475
References
17
Citations by year
2026: 100 · 2025: 83 · 2024: 69 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 50 · 2021: 33 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 2
FWCI
7.97
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • New Journal of Physics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • Monash University Research Portal (Monash University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • National University of Singapore (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
Funders
  • National Research Foundation
  • National Research Foundation Singapore
  • Centre for Quantum Technologies
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Quantum Information and Cryptography
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Advanced Thermodynamic Systems and Engines
Keywords
quantum batteries, battery charging, optimal control, qubit arrays, global operations, charging power, separable states, cyclic operation, quantum advantage

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