Quantum physics rules charge and heat transport in low dimensional conductors. Exploring the new quantum laws of heat transport is a particularly challenging field of research. Indeed, there is no thermal equivalent of the ammeter and applying small but well-known temperature differences within nanoscale circuits is technically difficult.

Physicists from C2N (CNRS-Paris Diderot University-Paris Sud University) overcomes this challenge by probing locally the temperature with ultra-sensitive noise measurements within a highly tunable hybrid metal-semiconductor nanocircuit. They have demonstrated that the classical law of heat resistance composition does not hold anymore. In particular, the heat evacuation from a small circuit node connected by perfect (ballistic) elementary quantum conductors is found systematically reduced by one thermal conductance quantum. This phenomenon results from electronic interactions. This work is published online in Nature Physics.

Reference:

Heat Coulomb blockade of one ballistic channel,
E. Sivre, A. Anthore, F. D. Parmentier, A. Cavanna, U. Gennser, A. Ouerghi, Y. Jin & F. Pierre
Nature Physics volume 14, pages 145–148 (2018) / DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4280

Contact:

• Anne Anthore, Assistant Professor Université Paris Diderot at C2N
• Frédéric Pierre, CNRS Senior Researcher