Quantum point contacts as heat engines

© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. The efficiency of macroscopic heat engines is restricted by the second law of thermodynamics. They can reach at most the efficiency of a Carnot engine. In contrast, heat currents in mesoscopic heat engines show fluctuations. Thus, there is a small probabilit...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Pilgram, Sebastian, Sánchez, David, López, Rosa
Tipo de documento: artigo
Estado:Versión enviada para evaluación y publicación
Data de publicação:2015
País:España
Recursos:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositório:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/133667
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/133667
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Mesoscopic physics
Quantum thermodynamics
Noise and fluctuations
Quantum transport
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spelling Quantum point contacts as heat enginesPilgram, SebastianSánchez, DavidLópez, RosaMesoscopic physicsQuantum thermodynamicsNoise and fluctuationsQuantum transport© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. The efficiency of macroscopic heat engines is restricted by the second law of thermodynamics. They can reach at most the efficiency of a Carnot engine. In contrast, heat currents in mesoscopic heat engines show fluctuations. Thus, there is a small probability that a mesoscopic heat engine exceeds Carnot's maximum value during a short measurement time. We illustrate this effect using a quantum point contact as a heat engine. When a temperature difference is applied to a quantum point contact, the system may be utilized as a source of electrical power under steady state conditions. We first discuss the optimal working point of such a heat engine that maximizes the generated electrical power and subsequently calculate the statistics for deviations of the efficiency from its most likely value. We find that deviations surpassing the Carnot limit are possible, but unlikely.This work has been supported by MINECO under Grant no. FIS2014-52564.Peer ReviewedElsevierMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad (España)Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]2016201620152016info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Preprintinfo:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersionhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/133667reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Inglés#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2013-2016/FIS2014-52564-Phttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physe.2015.08.003Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/1336672026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Quantum point contacts as heat engines
title Quantum point contacts as heat engines
spellingShingle Quantum point contacts as heat engines
Pilgram, Sebastian
Mesoscopic physics
Quantum thermodynamics
Noise and fluctuations
Quantum transport
title_short Quantum point contacts as heat engines
title_full Quantum point contacts as heat engines
title_fullStr Quantum point contacts as heat engines
title_full_unstemmed Quantum point contacts as heat engines
title_sort Quantum point contacts as heat engines
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Pilgram, Sebastian
Sánchez, David
López, Rosa
author Pilgram, Sebastian
author_facet Pilgram, Sebastian
Sánchez, David
López, Rosa
author_role author
author2 Sánchez, David
López, Rosa
author2_role author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Mesoscopic physics
Quantum thermodynamics
Noise and fluctuations
Quantum transport
topic Mesoscopic physics
Quantum thermodynamics
Noise and fluctuations
Quantum transport
description © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. The efficiency of macroscopic heat engines is restricted by the second law of thermodynamics. They can reach at most the efficiency of a Carnot engine. In contrast, heat currents in mesoscopic heat engines show fluctuations. Thus, there is a small probability that a mesoscopic heat engine exceeds Carnot's maximum value during a short measurement time. We illustrate this effect using a quantum point contact as a heat engine. When a temperature difference is applied to a quantum point contact, the system may be utilized as a source of electrical power under steady state conditions. We first discuss the optimal working point of such a heat engine that maximizes the generated electrical power and subsequently calculate the statistics for deviations of the efficiency from its most likely value. We find that deviations surpassing the Carnot limit are possible, but unlikely.
publishDate 2015
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2015
2016
2016
2016
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Preprint
info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersion
format article
status_str submittedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/133667
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/133667
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2013-2016/FIS2014-52564-P
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physe.2015.08.003
Sí
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,811543

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