Roadmap on quantum thermodynamics
Review article, 2026
The last two decades have seen quantum thermodynamics become a well established field of research in its own right. In that time, it has demonstrated a remarkably broad applicability, ranging from providing foundational advances in the understanding of how thermodynamic principles apply at the nano-scale and in the presence of quantum coherence, to providing a guiding framework for the development of efficient quantum devices. Exquisite levels of control have allowed state-of-the-art experimental platforms to explore energetics and thermodynamics at the smallest scales which has in turn helped to drive theoretical advances. This Roadmap provides an overview of the recent developments across many of the field's sub-disciplines, assessing the key challenges and future prospects, providing a guide for its near term progress.
Author
Steve Campbell
University College Dublin
Mario A. Ciampini
University of Vienna
Janet Anders
University of Potsdam
University of Exeter
Natalia Ares
University of Oxford
Simone Artini
University of Palermo
Alexia Auffeves
National University of Singapore (NUS)
MajuLab
Lindsay Bassman Oftelie
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
Laetitia P. Bettmann
Trinity College Dublin
Marcus V. S. Bonanca
State University of Campinas
Thomas Busch
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
Michele Campisi
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
Moallison F. Cavalcante
University of Maryland
State University of Campinas
Luis A. Correa
University of La Laguna
Eloisa Cuestas
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
Jülich Research Centre
Ceren B. Dag
Indiana University
Harvard University
Salambo Dago
University of Vienna
Sebastian Deffner
University of Maryland
Adolfo Del Campo
Donostia International Physics Center
University of Luxembourg
Andreas Deutschmann-Olek
Vienna University of Technology
Sandro Donadi
University of Palermo
Emery Doucet
University of Maryland
Cyril Elouard
University of Lorraine
Klaus Ensslin
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)
Paul Erker
Vienna University of Technology
Austrian Academy of Sciences
Nicole Fabbri
University of Florence
Federico Fedele
University of Oxford
Guilherme Fiusa
University of Rochester
Thomas Fogarty
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
Joshua Folk
University of British Columbia (UBC)
Giacomo Guarnieri
National Institute for Nuclear Physics
Universita degli studi di Pavia
Abhaya S. Hegde
University of Rochester
Santiago Hernandez-Gomez
University of Florence
Chang-Kang Hu
Shenzhen International Quantum Academy (IQASZ)
Southern University of Science and Technology
Fernando Iemini
Fluminense Federal University
Bayan Karimi
University of Chicago
Aalto University
Nikolai Kiesel
University of Vienna
Gabriel T. Landi
University of Rochester
Aleksander Lasek
University of Maryland
Sergei Lemziakov
Aalto University
Gabriele Lo Monaco
University of Palermo
Eric Lutz
University of Stuttgart
Dmitrii Lvov
Aalto University
Olivier Maillet
University Paris-Saclay
Mohammad Mehboudi
Vienna University of Technology
Taysa M. Mendonca
University of Sao Paulo (USP)
Harry J. D. Miller
University of Manchester
Andrew K. Mitchell
University College Dublin
Mark T. Mitchison
King's College London
Trinity College Dublin
Victor Mukherjee
Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER)
Mauro Paternostro
University of Palermo
Queen's University Belfast
Jukka Pekola
Aalto University
Marti Perarnau-Llobet
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB)
Ulrich Poschinger
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Alberto Rolandi
Vienna University of Technology
Dario Rosa
São Paulo State University (UNESP)
Rafael Sanchez
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM)
Alan C. Santos
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Roberto S. Sarthour
Ctr Brasileiro Pesquisas Fis CBPF
Eran Sela
Tel Aviv University
Andrea Solfanelli
Max Planck Society
Alexandre M. Souza
Ctr Brasileiro Pesquisas Fis CBPF
Janine Splettstösser
Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Applied Quantum Physics
Dian Tan
Southern University of Science and Technology
Shenzhen International Quantum Academy (IQASZ)
Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale
Ludovico Tesser
Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Applied Quantum Physics
Tan Van Vu
Kyoto University
Artur Widera
RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau
Nicole Yunger Halpern
University of Maryland
Krissia Zawadzki
University of Sao Paulo (USP)
QUANTUM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
2058-9565 (ISSN)
Vol. 11 1 012501Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Other Physics Topics
Control Engineering
DOI
10.1088/2058-9565/ae1e27