Heat Transistor: Demonstration of Gate-Controlled Electron Refrigeration

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a heat transistor where gate voltage controls electron refrigeration in a superconductor-normal metal system, showing Coulombic control of heat transfer at the mesoscopic scale.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental demonstration of Coulombic control of heat transfer and refrigeration in a mesoscopic system using a gate-controlled electron refrigerator.

Findings

Gate voltage effectively controls heat flux.

Theoretical model matches experimental data.

First observation of Coulombic heat transfer control.

Abstract

We present experiments on a superconductor-normal metal electron refrigerator in a regime where single-electron charging effects are significant. The system functions as a heat transistor, i.e., the heat flux out from the normal metal island can be controlled with a gate voltage. A theoretical model developed within the framework of single-electron tunneling provides a full quantitative agreement with the experiment. This work serves as the first experimental observation of Coulombic control of heat transfer and, in particular, of refrigeration in a mesoscopic system.