We derive the efficiency at maximal power of a scale-invariant (critical) quantum junction in exact form. Both Fermi and Bose statistics are considered. We show that time-reversal invariance is spontaneously broken. For fermions we implement a new mechanism for efficiency enhancement above the Curzon-Ahlborn bound, based on a shift of the particle energy in each heat reservoir, proportional to its temperature. In this setting fermionic junctions can even reach at maximal power the Carnot efficiency. The bosonic junctions at maximal power turn out to be less efficient then the fermionic ones.
We study non-equilibrium steady state transport in scale invariant quantum junctions with focus on the particle and heat fluctuations captured by the two-point current correlation functions. We show that the non-linear behavior of the particle current affects both the particle and heat noise. The existence of domains of enhancement and reduction of the noise power with respect to the linear regime are observed. The impact of the statistics is explored. We demonstrate that in the scale invariant case the bosonic particle noise exceeds the fermionic one in the common domain of heat bath parameters. Multi-lead configurations are also investigated and the effect of probe terminals on the noise is discussed.
Thermoelectric effects in magnetic nanostructures and the so-called spin caloritronics are attracting much interest. Indeed it provides a new way to control and manipulate spin currents which are key elements of spin-based electronics. Here we report on giant magnetothermoelectric effect in Al2O3 magnetic tunnel junctions. The thermovoltage in this geometry can reach 1 mV. Moreover a magneto-thermovoltage effect could be measured with ratio similar to the tunnel magnetoresistance ratio. The Seebeck coefficient can then be tuned by changing the relative magnetization orientation of the two magnetic layers in the tunnel junction. Therefore our experiments extend the range of spintronic devices application to thermoelectricity and provide a crucial piece of information for understanding the physics of thermal spin transport.
We investigate the microscopic features of bosonic quantum transport in a non-equilibrium steady state, which breaks time reversal invariance spontaneously. The analysis is based on the probability distributions, generated by the correlation functions of the particle current and the entropy production operator. The general approach is applied to an exactly solvable model with a point-like interaction driving the system away from equilibrium. The quantum fluctuations of the particle current and the entropy production are explicitly evaluated in the zero frequency limit. It is shown that all moments of the entropy production distribution are non-negative, which provides a microscopic version of the second law of thermodynamics. On this basis a concept of efficiency, taking into account all quantum fluctuations, is proposed and analysed. The role of the quantum statistics in this context is also discussed.
We have studied a quantum Hamiltonian that models an array of ultrasmall Josephson junctions with short range Josephson couplings, $E_J$, and charging energies, $E_C$, due to the small capacitance of the junctions. We derive a new effective quantum spherical model for the array Hamiltonian. As an application we start by approximating the capacitance matrix by its self-capacitive limit and in the presence of an external uniform background of charges, $q_x$. In this limit we obtain the zero-temperature superconductor-insulator phase diagram, $E_J^{rm crit}(E_C,q_x)$, that improves upon previous theoretical results that used a mean field theory approximation. Next we obtain a closed-form expression for the conductivity of a square array, and derive a universal scaling relation valid about the zero--temperature quantum critical point. In the latter regime the energy scale is determined by temperature and we establish universal scaling forms for the frequency dependence of the conductivity.
We discuss thermal rectification and thermoelectric energy conversion from the perspective of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and dynamical systems theory. After preliminary considerations on the dynamical foundations of the phenomenological Fourier law in classical and quantum mechanics, we illustrate ways to control the phononic heat flow and design thermal diodes. Finally, we consider the coupled transport of heat and charge and discuss several general mechanisms for optimizing the figure of merit of thermoelectric efficiency.