Optically manipulating thermodynamic performances of a quantum-dot heat engine

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.