| Issue |
EPL
Volume 122, Number 1, April 2018
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 17002 | |
| Number of page(s) | 6 | |
| Section | Condensed Matter: Electronic Structure, Electrical, Magnetic and Optical Properties | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/122/17002 | |
| Published online | 25 May 2018 | |
Coulomb-coupled quantum-dot thermal transistors
1 Department of Physics, Xiamen University - Xiamen 361005, PRC
2 College of Information Science and Engineering, Huaqiao University - Xiamen 361021, PRC
(a) jcchen@xmu.edu.cn (corresponding author)
Received: 13 February 2018
Accepted: 4 May 2018
A quantum-dot thermal transistor consisting of three Coulomb-coupled quantum dots coupled to the respective electronic reservoirs by tunnel contacts is established. The heat flows through the collector and emitter can be controlled by the temperature of the base. It is found that a small change in the base heat flow can induce a large heat flow change in the collector and emitter. The huge amplification factor can be obtained by optimizing the Coulomb interaction between the collector and the emitter or by decreasing the tunneling rate at the base. The proposed quantum-dot thermal transistor may open up potential applications in low-temperature solid-state thermal circuits at the nanoscale.
PACS: 73.23.Hk – Coulomb blockade; single-electron tunneling / 85.35.Be – Quantum well devices (quantum dots, quantum wires, etc.) / 44.10.+i – Heat conduction
© EPLA, 2018
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