Energy transport control in low dimensional nano-scale systems has attracted much attention in recent years. In this paper, we investigate the energy transport properties of Frenkel-Kontorova lattice subject to a periodic driving force, in particular, the resonance behavior of the energy current by varying the external driving frequency. It is discovered that in certain parameter ranges, multiple resonance peaks, instead of a single resonance, emerge. By comparing the nonlinear lattice model with a harmonic chain, we unravel the underlying physical mechanism for such resonance phenomenon. Other parameter dependencies of the resonance behavior are examined as well. Finally, we demonstrate that heat pumping is actually absent in this force-driven model.
Motivated by recent studies on models of particle and heat quantum pumps, we study similar simple classical models and examine the possibility of heat pumping. Unlike many of the usual ratchet models of molecular engines, the models we study do not have particle transport. We consider a two-spin system and a coupled oscillator system which exchange heat with multiple heat reservoirs and which are acted upon by periodic forces. The simplicity of our models allows accurate numerical and exact solutions and unambiguous interpretation of results. We demonstrate that while both our models seem to b…
It is well known that heat pumps, while being all limited by the same basic thermodynamic laws, may find realization on systems as "small" and "quantum" as a three-level maser. In order to quantitatively assess how the performance of these devices scales with their size, we design generalized $N$-dimensional ideal heat pumps by merging $N-2$ elementary three-level stages. We set them to operate in the absorption chiller mode between given hot and cold baths, and study their maximum achievable cooling power and the corresponding efficiency as a function of $N$. While the efficiency at maximum p…
The second law of thermodynamics dictates that heat simultaneously flows from the hot to cold bath on average. To go beyond this picture, a range of works in the past decade show that, other than the average dynamical heat flux determined by instantaneous thermal bias, a non-trivial flux contribution of intrinsic geometric origin is generally present in temporally driven systems. This additional heat flux provides a free lunch for the pumped heat and could even drive heat against the bias. We review here the emergence and development of this so called ``geometric heat pump'', originating from …
We introduce a local radiative heat-pumping effect between two bodies in a many-body system, obtained by periodically modulating both the temperature and the position of an intermediate object using an external source of energy. We show that the magnitude and the sign of energy flow can be tuned by changing the oscillation amplitude and dephasing of the two parameters. This many-body effect paves the way for an efficient and active control of heat fluxes at the nanoscale.
We study heat transport in transistor-like devices composed of two reservoirs and a gate electrode, with a ballistic electronic one-dimensional system connected between the two reservoirs and interacting with a laser field. We derive in a simple way an equation for the heat flux in terms of the Floquet-Green operator of the system. As a case example, we investigate a two-level transistor and find that the laser field can produce a net heat flow out of either one of the reservoirs. The direction of this flow is determined by the gate voltage. We study numerically the dependence of this heat-pum…
We propose a novel molecular device that pumps heat against a thermal gradient. The system consists of a molecular element connecting two thermal reservoirs that are characterized by different spectral properties. The pumping action is achieved by applying an external force that periodically modulates molecular levels. This modulation affects periodic oscillations of the internal temperature of the molecule and the strength of its coupling to each reservoir resulting in a net heat flow in the desired direction. The heat flow is examined in the slow and fast modulation limits and for different …
We discuss the statistical correlation properties of currents and energy flows generated by an adiabatic quantum pump. Our approach emphasizes the important role of quantized energy exchange between the sea of electrons and the oscillating scatterer. The pump-frequency introduces a natural energy scale. In the low temperature limit, thermal energy much smaller than a modulation quantum, the pump generates a shot-like noise which manifests itself in photon-assisted quantum mechanical exchange amplitudes. In the high temperature limit, thermal energy much larger than a modulation quantum, the pu…
We use the Floquet scattering theory to study the correlation properties of the nonadiabatic pumped dc current and heat flow through a time-dependent potential well. Oscillator induced quasibound states of electrons can transit to the Floquet states leading to resonant tunneling effect. Virtual electron scattering processes can produce pumped heat flow, pumped shot noise and pumped heat flow noise, with presence of time and spatial reversal symmetry. When one of the Floquet levels matches the quasibound level there strikes a "Fano" resonance.
We present the linear response matrix for a sliding domain wall in a rotatable magnetic nanowire, which is driven out of equilibrium by temperature and voltage bias, mechanical torque, and magnetic field. An expression for heat-current induced domain wall motion is derived. Application of Onsager's reciprocity relation leads to a unified description of the Barnett and Einstein-de Haas effects as well as spin-dependent thermoelectric properties. We envisage various heat pumps and engines, such as coolers driven by magnetic fields or mechanical rotation as well as nanoscale motors that convert t…
We investigate a mechanism for extracting heat from metallic conductors based on the energy-selective transmission of electrons through a spatially asymmetric resonant structure subject to ac driving. This quantum refrigerator can operate at zero net electronic current as it replaces hot by cold electrons through two energetically symmetric inelastic channels. We present numerical results for a specific heterostructure and discuss general trends. We also explore the conditions under which the cooling rate may approach the ultimate limit given by the quantum of cooling power.
An unconventional method of continuous solid-state cryogenic cooling utilizing the electron subband degeneracy of semiconductor heterostructures is proposed in this Letter. An electrostatic heat pump is modeled, which employs subband "expansion" and "compression" to reach sub-dilution refrigeration temperatures with the fundamental limit set by electron-phonon interaction. Using an ultra-wide GaAs quantum well as an example, the cooling power per unit volume is estimated to reach $4.5\ \rm mW/cm^3$ with a hot-side temperature of $300\ \rm mK$, suitable for applications such as quantum computer…
We study the heat transport due to phonons in nanomechanical structures using a phase space representation of non-equilibrium Green's functions. This representation accounts for the atomic degrees of freedom making it particularly suited for the description of small (molecular) junctions systems. We show that for the steady state limit our formalism correctly recovers the heuristic Landauer-like heat conductance for a quantum coherent molecular system coupled to thermal reservoirs. We find general expressions for the non-stationary heat current due to an external periodic drive. In both cases …
Majorana zero modes are non-Abelian quasiparticles that emerge on the edges of topological phases of superconductors. Evidence of their presence has been reported in transport measurements on engineered superconducting-based nanostructures. In this manuscript we identify signatures of a topologically protected dynamical manipulation of Majorana zero modes via continuous transport measurement during the manipulation. Specifically, we show that, in a two-terminal geometry, the heat pumped across the terminals at low temperature and voltage bias is characterized by a universal value. We show that…
We examine the heat and charge transport of a driven topological superconductor. Our particular system of interest consists of a Y-junction of topological superconducting wires, hosting non-Abelian Majorana zero modes at their edges. The system is contacted to two leads which act as continuous detectors of the system state. We calculate, via a scattering matrix approach, the full counting statistics of the driven heat transport, between two terminals contacted to the system, for small adiabatic driving and characterise the energy transport properties as a function of the system parameters (dri…
We investigate a mechanism for cooling a lead based on a process that replaces hot electrons by cold ones. The central idea is that a double quantum dot with an inhomogeneous Zeeman splitting acts as energy filter for the transported electrons. The setup is such that hot electrons with spin up are removed, while cold electrons with spin down are added. The required non-equilibrium condition is provided by the capacitive coupling of one quantum dot to the shot noise of a strongly biased quantum point contact in the tunnelling limit. Special attention is paid to the identification of an operatin…
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Ingeniería y Agrimensura, Universidad Nacional de Rosario（罗萨里奥国立大学精确科学、工程与测量学院）；Instituto de Física Rosario (CONICET)（罗萨里奥物理研究所（CONICET））；Centro Atómico Bariloche（巴里洛切原子中心）；Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología CONICET-CNEA（CONICET-CNEA纳米科学与纳米技术研究所）；Instituto Balseiro（巴尔塞罗研究所）
We demonstrate the generation of high order harmonics in carrier pumping from precessing ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic orders, excited via magnetic resonance, in the presence of topological antiferromagnetic textures. This results in an enhancement of the carrier dynamics by orders of magnitude. Interestingly, the generation process occurs in an intrinsic manner, and is solely governed by the interplay between the s-d exchange coupling underlying the noncollinear antiferromagnetic order and the dynamical s-d exchange parameter of the magnetic drive. Therefore, the relativistic spin-orbit …
We investigate the distribution function, the heat flow and the noise properties of an adiabatic quantum pump for an arbitrary relation of pump frequency $ω$ and temperature. To achieve this we start with the scattering matrix approach for ac-transport. This approach leads to expressions for the quantities of interest in terms of the side bands of particles exiting the pump. The side bands correspond to particles which have gained or lost a modulation quantum $\hbar ω$. We find that our results for the pump current, the heat flow and the noise can all be expressed in terms of a parametric emis…
Hybrid quantum dot-oscillator systems have become attractive platforms to inspect quantum coherence effects at the nanoscale. Here, we investigate a Cooper-pair splitter setup consisting of two quantum dots, each linearly coupled to a local resonator. The latter can be realized either by a microwave cavity or a nanomechanical resonator. Focusing on the subgap regime, we demonstrate that cross-Andreev reflection, through which Cooper pairs are split into both dots, can efficiently cool down simultaneously both resonators into their ground state. Moreover, we show that a nonlocal heat transfer b…
Lindbladian approach for many-qubit thermal machines: enhancing the performance with geometric heat pumping by interaction
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Ingeniería y Agrimensura, Universidad Nacional de Rosario（罗萨里奥国立大学精确科学、工程与测量学院）；Instituto de Física Rosario (CONICET)（罗萨里奥物理研究所（阿根廷国家科学研究委员会））；Departamento de Sólidos Cuánticos y Sistemas Desordenados, Centro Atómico Bariloche, Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología CONICET-CNEA and Instituto Balseiro（巴里洛切原子中心量子固体与无序系统系，纳米科学与技术研究所（阿根廷国家科学研究委员会-阿根廷国家原子能委员会）和巴尔塞罗研究所）
Thouless pumping is a fundamental instance of quantized transport, which is topologically protected. Although its theoretical importance, the adiabaticity condition is an obstacle for further practical applications. Here, focusing on the Rice-Mele model, we provide a family of finite-frequency examples that ensure both the absence of excitations and the perfect quantization of the pumped charge at the end of each cycle. This family, which contains an adiabatic protocol as a limiting case, is obtained through a mapping onto the zero curvature representation of the Euclidean sinh-Gordon equation…
We modulate the atomic structure of bilayer graphene by driving its lattice at resonance with the in-plane E1u lattice vibration at 6.3um. Using time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (tr-ARPES) with extreme ultra-violet (XUV) pulses, we measure the response of the Dirac electrons near the K-point. We observe that lattice modulation causes anomalous carrier dynamics, with the Dirac electrons reaching lower peak temperatures and relaxing at faster rate compared to when the excitation is applied away from the phonon resonance or in monolayer samples. Frozen phonon calculations predi…
Antiferromagnetic insulators can become active spintronics components by controlling and detecting their dynamics via spin currents in adjacent metals. This cross-talk occurs via spin-transfer and spin-pumping, phenomena that have been predicted to be as strong in antiferromagnets as in ferromagnets. Here, we demonstrate that a temperature gradient drives a significant heat flow from magnons in antiferromagnetic insulators to electrons in adjacent normal metals. The same coefficients as in the spin-transfer and spin-pumping processes also determine the thermal conductance. However, in contrast…
We investigate the charge and heat electronic noise in a generic two-terminal mesoscopic conductor in the absence of the corresponding charge and heat currents. Despite these currents being zero, shot noise is generated in the system. We show that, irrespective of the conductor's details and the specific nonequilibrium conditions, the charge shot noise never exceeds its thermal counterpart, thus establishing a general bound. Such a bound does not exist in the case of heat noise, which reveals a fundamental difference between charge and heat transport under zero-current conditions.
We investigated negative photoconductivity in graphene using ultrafast terahertz techniques. Infrared transmission was used to determine the Fermi energy, carrier density and mobility of p-type CVD graphene samples. Time-resolved terahertz photoconductivity measurements using a tunable mid-infrared pump probed these samples at photon energies between 0.35eV to 1.55eV, approximately one half to three times the Fermi energy of the samples. Although interband optical transitions in graphene are blocked for pump photon energies less than twice the Fermi energy, we observe negative photoconductivit…
We present an overview of recent advances in the study of energy dynamics and mechanisms for energy conversion in qubit systems with special focus on realizations in superconducting quantum circuits. We briefly introduce the relevant theoretical framework to analyze heat generation, energy transport and energy conversion in these systems with and without time-dependent driving considering the effect of equilibrium and non-equilibrium environments. We analyze specific problems and mechanisms under current investigation in the context of qubit systems. These include the problem of energy dissipa…
