Thermodynamic currents can fluctuate significantly at the nanoscale. But some currents fluctuate less than others. Hyperaccurate currents are those which fluctuate the least, in the sense that they maximize the signal-to-noise ratio (precision). In this letter we analytically determine the hyperaccurate current in the case of a quantum thermoelectric, modeled by the Landauer-Buttiker formalism.
We analyze a steady-state thermoelectric engine, whose working substance consists of two capacitively coupled quantum dots. One dot is tunnel-coupled to a hot reservoir serving as a heat source, the other one to two electrically biased reservoirs at a colder temperature, such that work is extracted under the form of a steady-state current against the bias. In single realizations of the dynamics of this steady-state engine autonomous, 4-stroke cycles can be identified. The cycles are purely stochastic, in contrast to mechanical autonomous engines which exhibit self-oscillations. In particular, these cycles fluctuate in direction and duration, and occur in competition with other spurious cycles. Using a stochastic thermodynamic approach, we quantify the cycle fluctuations and relate them to the entropy produced during individual cycles. We identify the cycle mainly responsible for the engine performance and quantify its statistics with tools from graph theory. We show that such stochastic cycles are made possible because the work extraction mechanism is itself stochastic instead of the periodic time dependence in the working-substance Hamiltonian which can be found in conventional mechanical engines. Our investigation brings new perspectives about the connection between cyclic and steady-state engines.
Thermodynamic observables of mesoscopic systems can be expressed as integrated empirical currents. Their fluctuations are bound by thermodynamic uncertainty relations. We introduce the hyperaccurate current as the integrated empirical current with the least fluctuations in a given non-equilibrium system. For steady-state systems described by overdamped Langevin equations, we derive an equation for the hyperaccurate current by means of a variational principle. We show that the hyperaccurate current coincides with the entropy production if and only if the latter saturates the thermodynamic uncertainty relation, and it can be substantially more precise otherwise. The hyperaccurate current can be used to improve estimates of entropy production from experimental data.
The design, accurate preparation and manipulation of quantum states in quantum circuits are essential operational tasks at the heart of quantum technologies. Nowadays, circuits can be designed with physical parameters that can be controlled with unprecedented accuracy and flexibility. However, the generation of well-controlled current states is still a nagging bottleneck, especially when different circuit elements are integrated together. In this work, we show how machine learning can effectively address this challenge and outperform the current existing methods. To this end, we exploit deep reinforcement learning to prepare prescribed quantum current states in circuits composed of lumped elements. To highlight our method, we show how to engineer bosonic persistent currents as they are relevant in different quantum technologies as cold atoms and superconducting circuits. We demonstrate the use of deep reinforcement learning to re-discover established protocols, as well as solve configurations that are difficult to treat with other methods. With our approach, quantum current states characterised by a single winding number or entangled currents of multiple winding numbers can be prepared in a robust manner, superseding the existing protocols.
The cavity mediated spin current between two ferrite samples has been reported by Bai et. al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 217201 (2017)]. This experiment was done in the linear regime of the interaction in the presence of external drive. In the current paper we develop a theory for the spin current in the nonlinear domain where the external drive is strong so that one needs to include the Kerr nonlinearity of the ferrite materials. In this manner the nonlinear polaritons are created and one can reach both bistable and multistable behavior of the spin current. The system is driven into a far from equilibrium steady state which is determined by the details of driving field and various interactions. We present a variety of steady state results for the spin current. A spectroscopic detection of the nonlinear spin current is developed, revealing the key properties of the nonlinear polaritons. The transmission of a weak probe is used to obtain quantitative information on the multistable behavior of the spin current. The results and methods that we present are quite generic and can be used in many other contexts where cavities are used to transfer information from one system to another, e.g., two different molecular systems.
We report on the experimental observation of thermoelectric currents in superconductor-ferromagnet tunnel junctions in high magnetic fields. The thermoelectric signals are due to a spin-dependent lifting of particle-hole symmetry, and are found to be in excellent agreement with recent theoretical predictions. The maximum Seebeck coefficient inferred from the data is about $-100~mathrm{mu V/K}$, much larger than commonly found in metallic structures. Our results directly prove the coupling of spin and heat transport in high-field superconductors.