Lamb-shift-induced switching of energy transfer in open quantum batteries

Abstract

Open quantum batteries (QBs) operate under unavoidable system-environment interactions, where both dissipation and coherent renormalization influence their performance. While most previous studies focus on dissipative effects, the role of environment-induced frequency renormalization, such as the Lamb shift, remains insufficiently explored.In this work, we investigate an externally driven QB composed of two coherently coupled quantum harmonic oscillators, representing the charger and the battery. By incorporating both dissipation and Lamb-shift corrections within a Lindblad master equation, we show that the Lamb shift effectively renormalizes the system eigenfrequencies and thereby modifies the resonance condition with the external drive. We demonstrate that tuning the driving frequency relative to the renormalized eigenmodes leads to a mode-selective energy transfer process, resulting in a controllable redistribution of energy between the charger and the battery. This behavior manifests as a switching of the dominant energy storage channel and can be quantitatively understood through a supermode decomposition of the coupled system. Our results clarify the dynamical role of environment-induced frequency shifts in open quantum batteries and provide a physically transparent framework for optimizing work extraction under realistic operating conditions.