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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Microrefrigeration by NIS tunnel junctions
D. V. AverinM. M. LeivoJukka P. Pekolasubject
SuperconductivityMaterials scienceCondensed matter physicsFermi levelGeneral Physics and AstronomyBiasingElectronCondensed Matter::Mesoscopic Systems and Quantum Hall EffectThermal conductionsymbols.namesakeTunnel junctionCondensed Matter::SuperconductivityLattice (order)ElectrodesymbolsComputer Science::Databasesdescription
By using a normal metal-insulator-superconductor (NIS) tunnel junction one can manipulate the Fermi-Dirac distribution of the electrons in the normal electrode. If the junction is biased close to the superconducting gap, Δ, only “hot electrons” above Fermi level can tunnel from the normal electrode to the superconductor. Thus, due to the decoupling of the conduction electrons from the lattice at low temperatures, there exists a possibility to decrease the electronic temperature by this method. Because of the symmetry with bias voltage, two NIS tunnel junctions in series can form an efficient microrefrigerator. Temperature can be measured with two additional junctions by considering the variations of their IV curves. So far our SINIS microrefrigerator has been capable of reaching temperatures of about 100 mK starting from 300 mK.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-05-01 | Czechoslovak Journal of Physics |