Thermal energy and charge currents in multi-terminal nanorings

We study in experiment and theory thermal energy and charge transfer close to the quantum limit in a ballistic nanodevice, consisting of multiply connected one-dimensional electron waveguides. The fabricated device is based on an AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure and is covered by a global top-gate to ste...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tobias Kramer, Christoph Kreisbeck, Christian Riha, Olivio Chiatti, Sven S. Buchholz, Andreas D. Wieck, Dirk Reuter, Saskia F. Fischer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2016-06-01
Series:AIP Advances
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4953812
Description
Summary:We study in experiment and theory thermal energy and charge transfer close to the quantum limit in a ballistic nanodevice, consisting of multiply connected one-dimensional electron waveguides. The fabricated device is based on an AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure and is covered by a global top-gate to steer the thermal energy and charge transfer in the presence of a temperature gradient, which is established by a heating current. The estimate of the heat transfer by means of thermal noise measurements shows the device acting as a switch for charge and thermal energy transfer. The wave-packet simulations are based on the multi-terminal Landauer-Büttiker approach and confirm the experimental finding of a mode-dependent redistribution of the thermal energy current, if a scatterer breaks the device symmetry.
ISSN:2158-3226