Joonas Govenius — Page 2

arXiv2016

Cryogenic microwave source based on nanoscale tunnel junctions

We experimentally realize an incoherent microwave source driven by voltage-controlled quantum tunneling of electrons through nanoscale normal-metal--insulator--superconductor junctions coupled to a resonator. We observe the direct conversion of the electronic energy into microwave photons by measuring the power spectrum of the microwave radiation emitted from the resonator. The demonstrated total output power exceeds that of 2.5-K thermal radiation although the photon and electron reservoirs are at subkelvin temperatures. Measurements of the output power quantitatively agree with a theoretical model in a wide range of the bias voltages providing information on the electrically-controlled photon creation. The developed photon source is fully compatible with low-temperature electronics and offers convenient in-situ electrical control of the photon emission rate with a predetermined frequency, without relying on intrinsic voltage fluctuations of heated normal-metal components nor suffering from unwanted dissipation in room temperature cables. In addition to its potential applications in microwave photonics, our results provide complementary verification of the working principles of the recently discovered quantum-circuit refrigerator.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Observation of quantum-limited heat conduction over macroscopic distances

The emerging quantum technological apparatuses [1,2], such as the quantum computer [3-5], call for extreme performance in thermal engineering at the nanoscale [6]. Importantly, quantum mechanics sets a fundamental upper limit for the flow of information and heat, which is quantified by the quantum of thermal conductance [7,8]. The physics of this kind of quantum-limited heat conduction has been experimentally studied for lattice vibrations, or phonons [9], for electromagnetic interactions [10], and for electrons [11]. However, the short distance between the heat-exchanging bodies in the previous experiments hinders the applicability of these systems in quantum technology. Here, we present experimental observations of quantum-limited heat conduction over macroscopic distances extending to a metre. We achieved this striking improvement of four orders of magnitude in the distance by utilizing microwave photons travelling in superconducting transmission lines. Thus it seems that quantum-limited heat conduction has no fundamental restriction in its distance. This work lays the foundation for the integration of normal-metal components into superconducting transmission lines, and hence provides an important tool for circuit quantum electrodynamics [12-14], which is the basis of the emerging superconducting quantum computer [15]. In particular, our results demonstrate that cooling of nanoelectronic devices can be carried out remotely with the help of a far-away engineered heat sink. In addition, quantum-limited heat conduction plays an important role in the contemporary studies of thermodynamics such as fluctuation relations and Maxwell's demon [16,17]. Here, the long distance provided by our results may, for example, lead to an ultimate efficiency of mesoscopic heat engines with promising practical applications [18].

cond-mat.mes-hall↗