Regensburg 2007 – scientific programme
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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen
TT 18: Nanoelectronics I - Quantum Dots, Wires, Point Contacts
TT 18.8: Talk
Wednesday, March 28, 2007, 16:00–16:15, H19
Nonadiabatic electron heat pump — •Sigmund Kohler1, Michael Strass1, Peter Hänggi1, Miguel Rey1,2, and Fernando Sols3 — 1Institut für Physik, Universität Augsburg — 2Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain — 3Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
When operating a quantum pump in the nonadiabatic regime, electrons can absorb photons and, thus, be scattered to states with a higher energy. Such processes may create thermal energy in the attached leads. At non-zero temperature, also the opposite is possible, namely substantial scattering to low-energy states. Thus the question arises whether in principle it is possible to achieve cooling in that way. We propose a setup in which the energy balance in one lead is indeed negative, which amounts to cooling the lead. This “quantum refrigerator” can operate at zero net electrical 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.
[1] M. Rey, M. Strass, S. Kohler, P. Hänggi, and F. Sols, cond-mat/0610155.