![\"Overview](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Untitled-design-4.jpg\" "\\"Breakthrough")
Overview of efficient heat-energy conversion from a non-thermal Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid.<\/p>\n
The Japanese team introduces a new quantum-based energy-harvesting technique beyond traditional thermodynamic<\/a> boundaries. Instead of depending on ordinary thermal states, the researchers used a non-thermal TL liquid\u2014a special one-dimensional electron system that resists thermalization. <\/p>\n When heat is applied, this quantum system retains its high-energy, non-thermal state instead of evenly distributing energy. By exploiting this behavior, the team demonstrated a method to efficiently extract electrical power from waste heat, opening the door to more sustainable low-power electronics and next-generation quantum technologies.<\/p>\n Sustainable quantum power<\/p>\n The research team experimented to demonstrate the potential of their new quantum-based energy<\/a>-harvesting concept. They directed waste heat from a quantum point contact transistor\u2014a device that regulates electron flow\u2014into a TL liquid. This non-thermal heat then traveled several micrometers to a quantum-dot heat engine, a microscopic system that converts heat into electricity through quantum effects. <\/p>\n Remarkably, the team found that this non-thermal heat source generated a much higher electrical voltage and achieved greater energy conversion efficiency than a conventional, quasi-thermalized source. The results suggest TL liquids could serve as promising non-thermal energy resources for future energy-harvesting technologies.<\/p>\n To further explain their observations, the researchers developed a theoretical model based on a binary Fermi distribution to describe the behavior of non-thermal electron states within the TL liquid system. Their analysis showed that this technique could surpass both the Carnot and Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency limits, which traditionally define the maximum performance of heat engines.<\/p>\n This breakthrough demonstrates how quantum systems that resist thermalization can be harnessed to convert waste heat into usable power. The findings pave the way for next-generation energy-harvesting designs, with applications in sustainable low-power electronics and quantum computing.<\/p>\n \u201cOur findings suggest that waste heat from quantum computers and electronic devices can be converted into usable power via high-performance energy harvesting,\u201d said Professor Toshimasa Fujisawa from the Department of Physics at the Institute of Science, Tokyo, in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n