English

Thermal junctions controlled with Aharonov-Bohm phases

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2024-09-09 v2 Quantum Physics

Abstract

Unlike charge, heat flows are difficult to control. We show that, in mesoscopic conductors, electronic thermal currents can be manipulated with a magnetic field by using the Aharonov-Bohm effect: the magnetic control of the interference pattern enhances the thermoelectric effect, while heat transport can be totally suppressed. In a three-terminal configuration, the flux-induced broken reciprocity generates a non-local thermoelectric response and translates to the circulation of heat. This way, efficient thermoelectric generators, thermal switches and thermal circulators, as well as energy harvesters can be defined for minimally disturbing thermal management at the nanoscale.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2405.05637,
  title  = {Thermal junctions controlled with Aharonov-Bohm phases},
  author = {José Balduque and Adrián Mecha and Rafael Sánchez},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.05637},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

13 pages, 13 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-28T16:21:52.285Z