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Superextensive electrical power from a quantum battery - Light: Science & Applications
www.nature.comSuperextensivity, where the response of a physical system scales super-linearly with size, originates from collective quantum effects and provides a promising route to augment next-generation quantum technologies. While recent work has demonstrated superextensive behaviour in the coherent dynamics of quantum systems, these effects typically occur on short timescales, prohibiting their practical utility. In contrast, triggering steady-state superextensive effects in, for example, a generated electric current, remains unexplored despite the immediate impact on photovoltaic technologies. Here, we utilise a microcavity quantum battery as an experimental platform that superextensively captures light energy and converts it to an electric current via the incorporation of charge transport layers into the resonant microcavity. This architecture enables, for the first time, a complete quantum battery charge-discharge cycle. We demonstrate that strong light–matter coupling induced by the microcavity leads to superextensive scaling of the steady-state electrical discharging power under low-intensity, incoherent illumination. Our results provide the first experimental demonstration of superextensive light-to-charge conversion in steady-state, highlighting the feasibility of leveraging strong light–matter coupling for enhanced energy harvesting under low-light conditions.



“Wake me up when they’re in stores”
“Another battery technology we’ll never see.”
“Sure, just like the last 3000 that never went anywhere.”
Ok, with that out of the way – Cool technology, seems like it can be used for quite a few applications. If I’m understanding this right, it seems like it’s a solar cell + battery in one process? So it absorbs light and can release that energy as needed?
Feels like that can be used for a lot of off-grid tech. Solar powered lights, rural villages, general infrastructure that doesn’t need to be hooked up to anything.
I could be reading this wrong, cause funny-words-magic-man-speak is kinda obtuse.