High-efficiency thermal switch based on topological Josephson junctions
We propose theoretically a thermal switch operating by the magnetic-flux controlled diffraction of phase-coherent heat currents in a thermally biased Josephson junction based on a two-dimensional topological insulator. For short junctions, the system shows a sharp switching behavior while for long j...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2017-01-01
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| Series: | New Journal of Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aa60d4 |
| Summary: | We propose theoretically a thermal switch operating by the magnetic-flux controlled diffraction of phase-coherent heat currents in a thermally biased Josephson junction based on a two-dimensional topological insulator. For short junctions, the system shows a sharp switching behavior while for long junctions the switching is smooth. Physically, the switching arises from the Doppler shift of the superconducting condensate due to screening currents induced by a magnetic flux. We suggest a possible experimental realization that exhibits a relative temperature change of 40% between the on and off state for realistic parameters. This is a factor of two larger than in recently realized thermal modulators based on conventional superconducting tunnel junctions. |
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| ISSN: | 1367-2630 |