Thermoelectric energy harvesting with quantum dots

Abstract

We review recent theoretical work on thermoelectric energy harvesting in multi-terminal quantum-dot setups. We first discuss several examples of nanoscale heat engines based on Coulomb-coupled conductors. In particular, we focus on quantum dots in the Coulomb-blockade regime, chaotic cavities and resonant tunneling through quantum dots and wells. We then turn towards quantum-dot heat engines that are driven by bosonic degrees of freedom such as phonons, magnons and microwave photons. These systems provide interesting connections to spin caloritronics and circuit quantum electrodynamics.

46 pages, 20 figures, Topical review article for Nanotechnology, published version

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• Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics with a Spin Qubit
• Franck-Condon blockade in suspended carbon nanotube quantum dots
• Optimal energy quanta to current conversion
• Single-mode heat conduction by photons
• Theory of the Franck-Condon blockade regime
• Thermodynamics of a physical model implementing a Maxwell demon
• Universal oscillations in counting statistics
• Thermopower of a Kondo-correlated quantum dot
• Thermoelectric transport through strongly correlated quantum dots
• Violation of the Wiedemann-Franz Law in a Single-Electron Transistor
• Counting Statistics of Non-Markovian Quantum Stochastic Processes
• Symmetry in Full Counting Statistics, Fluctuation Theorem, and Relations among Nonlinear Transport Coefficients in the Presence of a Magnetic Field
• Thermo-spin effects in a quantum dot connected to ferromagnetic leads
• Spin dynamics in InAs-nanowire quantum-dots coupled to a transmission line
• Powerful and efficient energy harvester with resonant-tunneling quantum dots
• Strong bounds on Onsager coefficients and efficiency for three terminal thermoelectric transport in a magnetic field
• Full Counting Statistics in Strongly Interacting Systems: Non-Markovian Effects
• Scattering theory of nonlinear thermoelectric transport
• Current-induced nonequilibrium vibrations in single-molecule devices
• Onsager Relations in Coupled Electric, Thermoelectric and Spin Transport: The Ten-Fold Way
• Magnon-driven quantum-dot heat engine
• A double-dot quantum ratchet driven by an independently biased quantum point contact
• Thermal rectification in nonlinear quantum circuits
• Tunable Noise Cross-Correlations in a Double Quantum Dot
• Mesoscopic photon heat transistor
• Photon mediated interaction between distant quantum dot circuits
• Thermoelectric efficiency of three-terminal quantum thermal machines
• Normal metal - superconductor tunnel junction as a Brownian refrigerator
• Efficiency of three-terminal thermoelectric transport under broken-time reversal symmetry
• Inelastic Interaction Corrections and Universal Relations for Full Counting Statistics
• Lasing and transport in a quantum dot-resonator circuit
• Thermodynamic and quantum bounds on nonlinear DC thermoelectric transport
• Quantum dot admittance probed at microwave frequencies with an on-chip resonator
• Quantum-fluctuation effects on the thermopower of a single-electron transistor
• Noise Correlations in a Coulomb Blockaded Quantum Dot
• Energy and power fluctuations in ac-driven coherent conductors
• Coulomb drag in quantum circuits
• Single electron transistor strongly coupled to vibrations: Counting Statistics and Fluctuation Theorem
• Quantum Nernst engines
• ThermoElectric Transport Properties of a Chain of Quantum Dots with Self-Consistent Reservoirs
• Resonance fluorescence in driven quantum dots: electron and photon correlations
• Large enhancement of the thermoelectric figure of merit in a ridged quantum well
• Local Temperatures and Heat Flow in Quantum Driven Systems
• Two-particle scattering matrix of two interacting mesoscopic conductors
• Quantum Photovoltaic Effect in Double Quantum Dots
• Characterization of a microwave frequency resonator via a nearby quantum dot
• The interacting resonant level model in nonequilibrium: finite temperature effects
• Photon heat transport in low-dimensional nanostructures
• Fluctuation theorem for heat transport probed by a thermal electrode
• Influence of spin waves on transport through a quantum-dot spin valve
• Microwave spectroscopy of a Cooper pair beam splitter
• Cross-correlation of two interacting conductors
• Spin and charge thermopower of resonant tunneling diodes

Cited by in corpus (46)

• Markovian master equations for quantum thermal machines: local vs global approach
• Performance of a quantum heat engine at strong reservoir coupling
• Finding the quantum thermoelectric with maximal efficiency and minimal entropy production at given power output
• Autonomous Quantum Refrigerator in a Circuit-QED Architecture Based on a Josephson Junction
• Chiral thermoelectrics with quantum Hall edge states
• A phenomenological position and energy resolving Lindblad approach to quantum kinetics
• Thermoelectric conversion at 30K in InAs/InP nanowire quantum dots
• Heat diode and engine based on quantum Hall edge states
• Bound on Thermoelectric Power in a Magnetic Field within Linear Response
• Optimal power and efficiency of single quantum dot heat engines: theory and experiment
• Thermoelectrics in Coulomb-coupled quantum dots: Cotunneling and energy-dependent lead couplings
• Thermoelectric efficiency of nanoscale devices in the linear regime
• Janus $\beta$-PdXY (X/Y = S, Se, Te) Materials with high Anisotropic Thermoelectric Performance
• Stochastic thermodynamics of self-oscillations: the electron shuttle
• Comparative study of heat-driven and power-driven refrigerators with Coulomb-coupled quantum dots
• Correlation-induced refrigeration with superconducting single-electron transistors
• Hybrid quantum thermal machines with dynamical couplings
• Two-Stroke Optimization Scheme for Mesoscopic Refrigerators
• Large enhancement in thermoelectric efficiency of quantum dot junction due to increase of level degeneracy
• Incoherent scattering can favorably influence energy filtering in nanostructured thermoelectrics
• Heat asymmetries in nanoscale conductors: The role of decoherence and inelasticity
• Thermodynamics of the polaron master equation at finite bias
• Superconducting quantum refrigerator: Breaking and rejoining Cooper pairs with magnetic field cycles
• Thermoelectrics of Interacting Nanosystems -- Exploiting Superselection instead of Time-Reversal Symmetry
• Nonlinear chiral refrigerators
• Magnetic field dependence of the thermopower of Kondo-correlated quantum dots
• Multilevel quantum thermodynamic swap engines
• Magnetic field dependence of the thermopower of Kondo-correlated quantum dots: Comparison with experiment
• Statistics of heat transport across capacitively coupled double quantum dot circuit
• Magnon transport through a quantum dot: Conversion to electronic spin and charge currents
• Superconductor-quantum dot hybrid coolers
• Converting heat into directed transport on a tilted lattice
• Thermoelectric inversion in a resonant quantum dot-cavity system in the steady-state regime
• Suppressing phonon transport in nanowires: a simple model for phonon-surface roughness interaction
• A realistic non-local heat engine based on Coulomb coupled systems
• Giant mesoscopic fluctuations of the elastic cotunneling thermopower of a single-electron transistor
• Length-dependent thermopower of single-molecule junctions
• Implementation of transmission functions for an optimized three-terminal quantum dot heat engine
• Phase-controlled heat modulation with Aharonov-Bohm interferometers
• Resonant enhancement in nanostructured thermoelectric performance via electronic thermal conductivity engineering
• The optimum configuration design of a nanostructured thermoelectric device with resonance tunneling
• Thermoelectric efficiency in multiterminal quantum thermal machines from steady-state density functional theory
• Enhanced thermoelectric performance actuated by inelastic processes in the channel region
• Parametric Study for Optimal Performance of Coulomb-Coupled Quantum Dots
• Magnon cotunneling through a quantum dot
• Quantum circuit refrigerator based on quantum dots coupled to normal-metal and superconducting electrodes