Work measurement in an optomechanical quantum heat engine
Abstract
We analyze theoretically the measurement of the mean output work and its fluctuations in a recently proposed optomechanical quantum heat engine [K. Zhang et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 150602 (2014)]. After showing that this work can be evaluated by a continuous measurements of the intracavity photon number we discuss both dispersive and absorptive measurement schemes and analyze their back-action effects on the efficiency of the engine. Both measurements are found to reduce the efficiency of the engine, but their back-action is both qualitatively and quantitatively different. For dispersive measurements the efficiency decreases as a result of the mixing of photonic and phononic excitations, while for absorptive measurements, its reduction results from photon losses due to the interaction with the quantum probe.
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