Optimal entanglement production in engineered quantum systems

We present two models in which the production of
entanglement is pursued with time dependent global fields, a chain of
spin 1/2 particles and a chain of harmonic oscillators. It is shown that
time dependent driving of the systems allows for a much greater creation
of entanglement than in static situations. In the case of spins we
point at the possibly best parameters to be used for optimal
performance. In the case of oscillators, an exact result is given. We
further relate the entanglement created in the chain of oscillators with
the minimal amount of thermodynamical work that needs to be spent in the
process.