When does a single ion engine become truly quantum? Izadyari et al. say that cooling down is not enough. In 2016, the first experimental realization of a heat engine working with a single ion was reported. This engine consists of an ion trap with tapered geometry. Since ion traps are some of the most promising platforms for viable quantum computers, it appears obvious that also the ion engine should exhibit genuine quantum features. In the experiment, the engine was run in the high-temperature, classical regime, and naively one would expect that quantum signatures will emerge naturally at sufficiently low temperatures. Izadyari et al. analyzed this naïve expectation more thoroughly with a theoretical and numerical analysis of the tapered ion trap. Remarkably, they found that only lowering the temperature is insufficient to access genuine quantum correlations to enhance the power output. To access these quantum correlations Izadyari et al. propose to alter the trap geometry, in particular to make it “more asymmetric” and more confined. As such, the work by Izadyari et al. provides a detailed recipe for how to build a genuine quantum engine.

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