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A superconducting siphon.

Author(s) : WASHBURN S.

Type of article: Article

Summary

Noise in an electronic circuit results from thermally excited electrons hopping up and down among the avalaible energy levels. The more accurate an electronic circuit must be, the cooler it must be. Two different quantum mechanical schemes have been proposed for removing electrons above a certain energy and repleneshing the Fermi sea with lower-energy electrons. The recent proposal for direct refrigeration of the electron employs a superconducting electrode in contact with a small metal conducting element: the voltage on the superconducting electrode is set so that the top of the gap of the superconductor is just above the Fermi level of the metal. A ten-micrometer long, half-micrometer wide strip was thus cooled from 0.100 K (the operating temperature of a conventional refrigerator, which cools the lattice) down to 0.085 K. J.V.

Details

  • Original title: A superconducting siphon.
  • Record ID : 1996-0690
  • Languages: English
  • Source: Nature - vol. 373 - n. 6510
  • Publication date: 1995/01/12
  • Document available for consultation in the library of the IIR headquarters only.

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