Thermodynamics of photonic nonlinear Aharonov-Bohm cages

Stefano Iubini; Carlo Danieli

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arXiv · 2606.18896

Thermodynamics of photonic nonlinear Aharonov-Bohm cages

Stefano Iubini·Carlo Danieli

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Abstract

We investigate equilibrium and non-equilibrium thermodynamics of one-dimensional photonic diamond lattices with Kerr nonlinearity. The equilibrium phase diagram is obtained as a function of the synthetic magnetic flux acting on each plaquette. In the linear regime, the magnetic flux can induce Aharonov-Bohm caging, flattening all Bloch bands and suppressing particle and energy currents. In this caging regime, non-vanishing currents are enabled by nonlinearity. By imposing stationary temperature- and chemical potential- imbalances at the system boundaries, we show that at weak nonlinearity fine tuning the flux at the Aharonov-Bohm caging transforms the system from a conductor to an insulator. For intermediate nonlinear strength, the system remains conducting for all magnetic fluxes; however, the caging condition significantly enhances the Seebeck coefficient and thermoelectric figure of merit, improving the thermoelectric features of the system. Our results give evidence of a novel route towards optimization of coupled transport devices, based on the control of linear versus nonlinear conduction channels via a synthetic magnetic flux.

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Stefano Iubini, Carlo Danieli. 2026-06-17. Thermodynamics of photonic nonlinear Aharonov-Bohm cages. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.18896

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