Efficiency at maximum power of a quantum Otto engine: Both within finite-time and irreversible thermodynamics

Abstract

We consider the efficiency at maximum power of a quantum Otto engine, which uses a spin or a harmonic system as its working substance and works between two heat reservoirs at constant temperatures $T_h$ and $T_c$ $ (<T_h)$. Although the spin-$1/2$ system behaves quite differently from the harmonic system in that they obey two typical quantum statistics, the efficiencies at maximum power based on these two different kinds of quantum systems are bounded from the upper side by the same expression of the efficiency at maximum power: $\eta_{mp}\leq\eta_+\equiv \eta_C^2/[\eta_C-(1-\eta_C)\ln(1-\eta_C)]$, with $\eta_C=1-T_c/T_h$ the Carnot efficiency, which displays the same universality of the CA efficiency $\eta_{CA}=1-\sqrt{1-\eta_C}$ at small relative temperature difference. Within context of irreversible thermodynamics, we calculate the Onsager coefficients and, we show that the value of $\eta_{CA}$ is indeed the upper bound of EMP for the Otto engines working in the linear-response regime.