Rectification of thermal fluctuations in a chaotic cavity heat engine

TL;DR

This paper explores how a mesoscopic chaotic cavity heat engine can rectify thermal fluctuations to produce directed current, analyzing its power output and efficiency based on contact asymmetry and temperature differences.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mesoscopic heat engine design that rectifies thermal fluctuations using a chaotic cavity coupled to a cold cavity, highlighting the role of contact asymmetry.

Findings

Directed current depends on contact energy asymmetry

Maximum power output is achieved at specific asymmetries

Efficiency scales with temperature difference

Abstract

We investigate the rectification of thermal fluctuations in a mesoscopic on-chip heat engine. The engine consists of a hot chaotic cavity capacitively coupled to a cold cavity which rectifies the excess noise and generates a directed current. The fluctuation-induced directed current depends on the energy asymmetry of the transmissions of the contacts of the cold cavity to the leads and is proportional to the temperature difference. We discuss the maximal power output of the heat engine and its efficiency.