Supercurrent-induced Peltier-like effect in superconductor/normal-metal weak links

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a supercurrent-induced Peltier-like effect in superconductor/normal-metal weak links, where supercurrent controls the quasiparticle distribution, enabling temperature differences without voltage or heat flow.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism where supercurrent tunes the quasiparticle distribution, creating a Peltier-like effect in superconductor/normal-metal systems.

Findings

Supercurrent can control the quasiparticle distribution function.

A supercurrent can induce a temperature difference without voltage bias.

The effect can be experimentally observed and mapped.

Abstract

The local nonequilibrium quasiparticle distribution function in a normal-metal wire depends on the applied voltage over the wire and the type and strength of different scattering mechanisms. We show that in a setup with superconducting reservoirs, in which the supercurrent and the dissipative current flow (anti)parallel, the distribution function can also be tuned by applying a supercurrent between the contacts. Unlike the usual control by voltage or temperature, this leads to a Peltier-like effect: the supercurrent converts an externally applied voltage into a difference in the effective temperature between two parts of the system maintained at the same potential. We suggest an experimental setup for probing this phenomenon and mapping out the controlled distribution function.