We determine the optical heating of an ideal gas, which is contained in a cylinder equipped with a piston having a given arbitrary motion and which is coupled to a heat bath, so that the work produced is maximal given a total pumping energy. We show that the optimal heating is impulsive and we determine the location of the impulse. Efficiency and thermodynamic analyses are obtained for sinusoidal piston motion.
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Band et al. (1981) studied this question.