Abstract Quantum dots (QDs) as near perfect energy filters are of significant interest for investigating efficient energy harvesting at the nanoscale. In this paper we propose a QD heat engine triggered by a voltage difference and a thermal bias, where a circularly polarized light is applied on the QD region to tune the performance of the proposed QD heat engine, and study thermodynamic characteristics of the QD heat engine in the linear response regime. The parameters's dependence of thermodynamic performances of the nanoscale thermoelectric setup is discussed in detail, and the underlying physical mechanisms are given. Furthermore, a reasonably good thermodynamic performance can be achieved by suitably adjusting system parameters, which mostly results from the violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law. Our study provides a useful way to manipulate thermodynamic operational modes of quantum thermoelectric devices.

中文翻译：

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光学操纵量子点热机的热力学性能

摘要 量子点 (QD) 作为近乎完美的能量过滤器，对于研究纳米级的高效能量收集具有重要意义。在本文中，我们提出了一种由电压差和热偏置触发的 QD 热机，其中圆偏振光应用于 QD 区域以调整所提出的 QD 热机的性能，并研究 QD 热机的热力学特性在线性响应机制中。详细讨论了纳米级热电装置的热力学性能的参数依赖性，并给出了潜在的物理机制。此外，通过适当调整系统参数可以获得相当好的热力学性能，这主要是由于违反 Wiedemann-Franz 定律。