Non-invasive thermometer based on proximity superconductor for ultra-sensitive calorimetry

We present radio-frequency thermometry based on a tunnel junction between a superconductor and proximitized normal metal. It allows operation in a wide range of biasing conditions. We demonstrate that the standard finite-bias quasiparticle tunneling thermometer suffers from large dissipation and loss of sensitivity at low temperatures, whereas thermometry based on zero bias anomaly avoids both these problems. For these reasons the latter method is suitable down to lower temperatures, here to about 25 mK. Both thermometers are shown to measure the same local temperature of the electrons in the normal metal in the range of their applicability

Violation of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem in time-dependent mesoscopic heat transport

We have analyzed the spectral density of fluctuations of the energy flux through a mesoscopic constriction between two equilibrium reservoirs. It is shown that at finite frequencies, the fluctuating energy flux is not related to the thermal conductance of the constriction by the standard fluctuation-dissipation theorem, but contains additional noise. The main physical consequence of this extra noise is that the fluctuations do not vanish at zero temperature together with the vanishing thermal conductance.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Micrometre-scale refrigerators

A superconductor with a gap in the density of states or a quantum dot with discrete energy levels is a central building block in realizing an electronic on-chip cooler. They can work as energy filters, allowing only hot quasiparticles to tunnel out from the electrode to be cooled. This principle has been employed experimentally since the early 1990s in investigations and demonstrations of micrometre-scale coolers at sub-kelvin temperatures. In this paper, we review the basic experimental conditions in realizing the coolers and the main practical issues that are known to limit their performance. We give an update of experiments performed on cryogenic micrometre-scale coolers in the past five years

A superconducting antenna-coupled hot-spot microbolometer

We report the electrical properties of an antenna-coupled niobium vacuum-bridge bolometer, operated at a temperature of 4.2 K, in which the thermal isolation is maximized by the vacuum gap between the bridge and the underlying silicon substrate. The device is voltage-biased, which results in a formation of a normal state region in the middle of the bridge. The device shows a current responsivity of −1430 A/W and an amplifier limited electrical noise equivalent power of 1.4×10−14 W/√Hz.Peer reviewe

Heat due to system-reservoir correlations in thermal equilibrium

The heat flow between a quantum system and its reservoir is analyzed when initially both are in a separable thermal state and asymptotically approach a correlated equilibrium. General findings are illustrated for specific systems and various classes of non-Markovian reservoirs relevant for solid state realizations. System-bath correlations are shown to be substantial at low temperatures even in the weak coupling regime. As a consequence, predictions of work and heat for actual experiments obtained within conventional perturbative approaches may often be questionable. Correlations induce characteristic imprints in heat capacities which opens a proposal to measure them in solid state devices.Peer reviewe

Dynamical phase and quantum heat transport at fractional frequencies

We demonstrate a genuine quantum feature of heat: the power emitted by a qubit (quantum two-level system) into a reservoir under continuous driving shows well-defined peaks as a function of frequency $f$. These resonant features appear due to the accumulation of the dynamical phase during the driving. The position of the $n$th maximum is given by $f=f_{\rm M}/n$, where $f_{\rm M}$ is the mean frequency of the qubit in the cycle, and their appearance is independent of the form of the drive and the number of heat baths attached, and even the presence or absence of spectral filtering. We propose that this non-trivial quantum heat can be detected by observing the steady-state power absorbed by a resistor acting as a bolometer attached to a driven superconducting qubit. This quantum heat is expected to play a crucial role in the performance of driven thermal devices such as quantum heat engines and refrigerators. We also show that by optimizing the cycle protocol, we recover the favorable classical limit in fast driven systems without the use of counter-diabatic drive protocols.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, comments welcom

Quantum trajectory analysis of single microwave photon detection by nanocalorimetry

We apply quantum trajectory techniques to analyze a realistic set-up of a superconducting qubit coupled to a heat bath formed by a resistor, a system that yields explicit expressions of the relevant transition rates to be used in the analysis. We discuss the main characteristics of the jump trajectories and relate them to the expected outcomes ("clicks") of a fluorescence measurement using the resistor as a nanocalorimeter. As the main practical outcome we present a model that predicts the time-domain response of a realistic calorimeter subject to single microwave photons, incorporating the intrinsic noise due to the fundamental thermal fluctuations of the absorber and finite bandwidth of a thermometer

Ultrasensitive Calorimetric Detection of Single Photons from Qubit Decay

We describe a qubit linearly coupled to a heat bath, either directly or via a cavity. The main focus of the paper is on calorimetric detection in a realistic circuit, specifically a solid-state qubit coupled to a resistor as an absorber. The bath in the model is formed of oscillators initially in the ground state with a distribution of energies and coupling strengths. A direct numerical solution of the Schrodinger equation for the full system including up to 106 oscillators in the bath verifies the expected decay process. We address quantitatively the question of separation of the qubit and bath by adding a cavity in between which by detuning allows one to adjust the decay rate into a convenient regime for detection purposes. Most importantly, we propose splitting a quantum to two uncoupled baths and performing a cross-correlation measurement of their temperatures. This technique enhances significantly the signal-to-noise ratio of the calorimeter.Peer reviewe