Thermoelectric energy harvesting with quantum dots

Abstract

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.

Implementation of transmission functions for an optimized three-terminal quantum dot heat engine

“…27 Other heat engine designs, which utilize Coulomb blockade physics, have also been discussed. 2,[12][13][14][15] In order to properly treat the Coulomb blockade, or strong correlation effects in general, one has either to resort to numerical methods, or different analytical approaches. 2 …”

“…[1][2][3] The functionality of such devices generally depends on the combined transport of charge and heat through quantum systems coupled to macroscopic reservoirs. Various layouts for such heat engines have been discussed, most of them based on quantum dots.…”

Finding the quantum thermoelectric with maximal efficiency and minimal entropy production at given power output

“…The other arm contains scatterer 3, and we define its efficiency as η (3) eng . The efficiency of the full system, η total eng (P gen ), is given by…”

“…The upper-bound on η (3) eng is that given in section IX with q rel N L modes to the left and q rel N R modes to the right. Our objective now is to find the maximum η (1&2) eng with N 1 = p rel N L modes on the left and N 2 = p rel N R modes on the right.…”

“…[17,18,36,37,54,[67][68][69][70][71], see Refs. [2][3][4] for recent reviews. However, here we do not ask what is the efficiency of a given system, we ask what is the system that would achieve the highest efficiency, and what is this efficiency?…”