Optical levitation of nanoparticles has been recognized as a versatile experimental platform to explore macroscopic quantum experiments, force sensing and stochastic thermodynamics.
In levitated systems, the excellent spatio-temporal control over potential landscape and reservoir (bath) is in particular well suited for thermodynamics experiments at the nanoscale. As an example, I will show that we have employed continuous time-delayed feedback control to generalized the second law of thermodynamics using levitated nanoparticles [1].
Recently, ground state cooling of levitated nanoparticles has been demonstrated [2,3], opening new avenues for quantum thermodynamics experiments. I will illustrate those new possibilities with the design of a heat engine operating in the quantum regime.
