Superextensive electrical power from a quantum battery

Kieran Hymas; Jack B. Muir; Daniel Tibben; Joel van Embden; Tadahiko Hirai; Christopher J. Dunn; Daniel E. Gómez; James A. Hutchison; Trevor A. Smith; James Q. Quach

doi:10.1038/s41377-026-02240-6

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Superextensive electrical power from a quantum battery

Original Articles

- Superextensive electrical power from a quantum battery
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 15, Issue 6, Pages: 1915-1925(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia
  2.School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
  3.ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science, School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
- Author bio：
  
  James Q. Quach (james.quach@csiro.au)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-026-02240-6
  CLC：
- Received：10 May 2025，
  
  Revised：2026-02-04，
  
  Accepted：11 February 2026，
  
  Online First：13 March 2026，
  
  Published：30 June 2026
- Accepted：
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Hymas, K. et al. Superextensive electrical power from a quantum battery. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 1915-1925 (2026).
DOI：

Hymas, K. et al. Superextensive electrical power from a quantum battery. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 1915-1925 (2026). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-026-02240-6.

摘要

Abstract

Superextensivity

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.

关键词

Keywords

references

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