Autonomous Quantum Refrigerator in a Circuit-QED Architecture Based on a Josephson Junction

TL;DR

This paper proposes an autonomous quantum refrigerator using circuit QED with Josephson junctions, capable of cooling without external control and with potential for coherence-enhanced performance, feasible with current technology.

Contribution

It introduces a novel autonomous quantum refrigerator design in circuit QED architecture utilizing Josephson junctions, with a built-in switch and realistic experimental parameters.

Findings

Significant cooling achievable with realistic parameters

Refrigerator operates autonomously without external control

Built-in switch enables on/off cooling control

Abstract

An implementation of a small quantum absorption refrigerator in a circuit QED architecture is proposed. The setup consists of three harmonic oscillators coupled to a Josephson unction. The refrigerator is autonomous in the sense that it does not require any external control for cooling, but only thermal contact between the oscillators and heat baths at different temperatures. In addition, the setup features a built-in switch, which allows the cooling to be turned on and off. If timing control is available, this enables the possibility for coherence-enhanced cooling. Finally, we show that significant cooling can be achieved with experimentally realistic parameters and that our setup should be within reach of current technology.