Research from The University of Manchester has thrown new light on the use of miniaturised ‘heat engines’ that could one day help power nanoscale machines like quantum computers.

Heat engines are devices that turn thermal energy into a useful form known as ‘work’ which can provide power – like any other engine.

Dr Ahsan Nazir, a Senior Lecturer and EPSRC Fellow based at Manchester’s Photon Science Institute and School of Physics and Astronomy, wanted to see how heat engines performed at the quantum level, a sub-atomic environment where the classical laws of physics don’t always apply.

Heat engines at this scale could help power the miniaturised nanoscale machines of the future, such as components of quantum computers.

Dr Nazir’s research, published in the journal Physical Review E, showed that heat engines were inclined to lose performance at the quantum scale due to the way such devices exchange energy with external heat reservoirs – and more investigation would be needed to remedy this challenge.

“Heat engines are devices that turn thermal energy into a useful form known as ‘work’,” explained Dr Nazir.

“Besides being of immense practical importance, the theoretical understanding of factors that determine their energy conversion efficiency has enabled a deep understanding of the classical laws of thermodynamics.