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The self-assembly of optical solitons propagating in nonlinear dissipative systems spreads the concept of soliton molecules. Assisted with the real-time spectral interferometry, plentiful internal dynamics has been probed within the multi-pulse patterns, emphasizing the striking analogies with the matter molecules. Therefrom, these particle-like behaviors would yield more intriguing landscapes toward the extended degrees of freedom considering increased constituents. Here, we transfer the concept of “isomer” to the experimental investigation on the unexplored isomeric dynamics of soliton molecules in parallel. Particularly, two isomers for soliton triplets and four isomers for soliton quadruplets are captured under different self-assembled forms, within each of which the binding separations and relative phases of the constituents are governed by mutual soliton interactions. With the diverse separation-phase evolving trajectories mapped in the interaction plane, detailed insights into the temporal distribution and the transient dynamics are displayed with respect to a panorama of the isomeric dynamics. The perspective of optical isomers shed new light on the analogy with matter molecules, and the underlying isomeric dynamics may stimulate the artificial manipulation of various soliton molecules for ultrafast applications.

We consider a quantum endoreversible Carnot engine cycle and its inverse operation–Carnot refrigeration cycle, working between a hot bath of inverse temperature [Formula: see text] and a cold bath at inverse temperature [Formula: see text]. For the engine model, the hot bath is constructed to be squeezed, whereas for the refrigeration cycle, the cold bath is set to be squeezed. In the high-temperature limit, we analyze efficiency at maximum power and coefficient of performance at maximum figure of merit, revealing the effects of the times allocated to two thermal-contact and two adiabatic processes on the machine performance. We show that, when the total time spent along the two adiabatic processes is negligible, the efficiency at maximum power reaches its upper bound, which can be analytically expressed in terms of squeezing parameter [Formula: see text]: [Formula: see text], with the Carnot efficiency [Formula: see text] and the coefficient of performance at maximum figure of merit is bounded from the upper side by the analytical function: [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text].