Heat pump driven by the shot noise of a tunnel contact

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel cooling mechanism using a double quantum dot influenced by shot noise from a biased quantum point contact, effectively filtering electrons by energy and spin to achieve cooling.

Contribution

It introduces a new quantum dot-based cooling method driven by shot noise, with detailed analysis of its operating regime and conditions for zero net current.

Findings

Effective electron cooling via shot noise-induced energy filtering.

Identification of conditions for zero net electrical current.

Potential applications in quantum thermodynamics and nanoscale cooling.

Abstract

We investigate a mechanism for cooling a lead based on a process that replaces hot electrons by cold ones. The central idea is that a double quantum dot with an inhomogeneous Zeeman splitting acts as energy filter for the transported electrons. The setup is such that hot electrons with spin up are removed, while cold electrons with spin down are added. The required non-equilibrium condition is provided by the capacitive coupling of one quantum dot to the shot noise of a strongly biased quantum point contact in the tunnelling limit. Special attention is paid to the identification of an operating regime in which the net electrical current vanishes.