Coherent backaction between spins and an electronic bath: Non-Markovian dynamics and low-temperature quantum thermodynamic electron cooling

Stephanie Matern, Daniel Loss, Jelena Klinovaja, and Bernd Braunecker
Phys. Rev. B 100, 134308 – Published 16 October 2019

Abstract

We provide a versatile analytical framework for calculating the dynamics of a spin system in contact with a fermionic bath beyond the Markov approximation. The approach is based on a second-order expansion of the Nakajima-Zwanzig master equation but systematically includes all quantum coherent memory effects leading to non-Markovian dynamics. Our results describe, for the free induction decay, the full time range from the non-Markovian dynamics at short times, to the well-known exponential thermal decay at long times. We provide full analytic results for the entire time range using a bath of itinerant electrons as an archetype for universal quantum fluctuations. Furthermore, we propose a quantum thermodynamic scheme to employ the temperature insensitivity of the non-Markovian decay to transport heat out of the electron system and thus, by repeated reinitialization of a cluster of spins, to efficiently cool the electrons at very low temperatures.

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  • Received 30 May 2019
  • Revised 1 October 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.134308

©2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied PhysicsAtomic, Molecular & OpticalStatistical Physics & Thermodynamics

Authors & Affiliations

Stephanie Matern1, Daniel Loss2, Jelena Klinovaja2, and Bernd Braunecker1

  • 1SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews KY16 9SS, United Kingdom
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland

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Issue

Vol. 100, Iss. 13 — 1 October 2019

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