Coherence-Driven Quantum Battery Charging via Autonomous Thermal Machines: Energy Transfer, Memory Effects, and Ergotropy Enhancement

Abstract

In this work, we study a hybrid quantum system composed of a quantum battery and a coherence-driven charger interacting with a Quantum Autonomous Thermal Machine (QATM). The QATM, made of two qubits, each coupled to Markovian bosonic thermal reservoirs at different temperatures, acts as a structured environment that mediates energy and coherence between the charger and the battery. By applying a coherent driving field on the charger, we investigate the coherence injection effect on the dynamics, including non-Markovianity, power of charging, coherence storage, and ergotropy. We show that the QATM filters the decoherence induced by the thermal baths and induces non-Markovian memory effects due to correlation backflow. Our results demonstrate that coherence driving enhances the battery's ergotropy; coherence driving raises the maximum ergotropy by approximately 40% compared to the case without coherence driving, and the power of charging by preserving the internal energy of the charger.