Josephson quantum spin thermodynamics

TL;DR

This paper proposes a versatile 1D Josephson junction loop device doped with a spin-flipper that can operate as a heat engine, refrigerator, Joule pump, or cold pump, with tunable efficiency and performance surpassing previous designs.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Josephson junction device with spin-flip scattering that can switch modes via flux tuning, enhancing versatility and efficiency in quantum thermodynamic applications.

Findings

Device efficiency exceeds recent Josephson heat engines.

Coefficient of performance surpasses previous Josephson refrigerators.

Mode switching achieved by flux tuning without changing reservoir temperatures.

Abstract

A 1D Josephson junction loop, doped with a spin-flipper and attached to two thermal reservoirs, operates as a heat engine or a refrigerator, a Joule pump, or even a cold pump. When operating as a quantum heat engine, the efficiency of this device exceeds that of some recent Josephson heat engine proposals. Further, as a quantum refrigerator, the coefficient of performance of this device is much higher than previously proposed Josephson junction-based refrigerators. In addition, this device can be tuned from engine mode to refrigerator mode or any other mode, i.e., Joule pump or cold pump, by either tuning the temperature of reservoirs or via the flux enclosed in the Josephson junction loop. In the presence of spin-flip scattering, we can tune our device from engine mode to other operating modes by only changing the enclosed flux in the Josephson junction loop without changing the temperatures of the reservoirs. This is potentially an advantage with respect to other proposals. This makes the proposed device much more versatile as regards possible applications.