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SUMMARY:Mesoscopic thermocouples - Dr Rafael Sanchez\, Universidad Carlos 
 III de Madrid (UC3M)
DTSTART:20160613T131500Z
DTEND:20160613T141500Z
UID:TALK66523@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Teri Bartlett
DESCRIPTION:A thermocouple takes energy from the environment and transform
 s it to provide power for electronics. Specifically\, the conversion of th
 ermal energy into electrical power\, or thermoelectrics\, can play a cruci
 al role in future developments of alternative sources of energy. Unfortuna
 tely\, present thermoelectrics have low efficiency. Therefore\, an importa
 nt task in condensed matter physics is to find new ways to harvest ambient
  thermal energy\, particularly at the smallest length scales where electro
 nics operate. To achieve this goal\, there is on one hand the miniaturizin
 g of electrical devices\, and on the other\, the maximization of either ef
 ficiency or power the devices produce. \n \nI will present the theory of n
 ano heat engines able to efficiently convert heat into electrical power. W
 e propose a resonant tunneling quantum dot engine that can be operated eit
 her in the Carnot efficient mode\, or maximal power mode [1]. The ability 
 to scale the power by putting many such engines in a “Swiss cheese sandw
 ich” geometry gives a paradigmatic system for harvesting thermal energy 
 at the nanoscale. Alternative configurations based on resonant tunneling t
 hrough quantum wells provide a comparable thermoelectric performance with 
 the advantage of being easier to construct [2].\n\nNovel functionalities s
 uch as ideal thermal diodes can be proposed in the presence of a magnetic 
 field [3]\, where heat transport becomes chiral.  \n \n[1] A. N. Jordan\, 
 B. Sothmann\, R. Sánchez\, M. Büttiker\, Phys. Rev. B 87\, 075312 (2013)
 . \n[2] B. Sothmann\, R. Sánchez\, A. N. Jordan\, M. Büttiker\, New J. P
 hys. 15\, 095021 (2013).\n[3] R. Sánchez\, B. Sothmann\, A. N. Jordan\, P
 hys. Rev. Lett. 114\, 146801 (2015)\, New J. Phys. 17\, 075006 (2015).\n
LOCATION:Mott Seminar Room (Mott Building Room 531)\, Cavendish Laboratory
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