Microwave-assisted thermoelectricity in SIS' tunnel junctions
Abstract
Asymmetric superconducting tunnel junctions with gaps 1>2 have been proven to show a peculiar nonlinear bipolar thermoelectric effect. This arises due to the spontaneous breaking of electron-hole symmetry in the system, and it is maximized at the matching-peak bias |V|=Vp=(1-2)/e. In this paper, we investigate the interplay of photon-assisted tunneling (PAT) and bipolar thermoelectric generation. In particular, we show how thermoelectricity, at the matching peak, is supported by photon absorption/emission processes at the frequency-shifted sidebands V= Vp+nω, n ∈ Z. This represents a sort of microwave-assisted thermoelectricity. We show the existence of multiple stable solutions, being associated with different photon sidebands, when a load is connected to the junction. Finally, we discuss how the nonlinear cooling effects are modified by the PAT. The proposed device can detect millimeter wavelength signals by converting a temperature gradient into a thermoelectric current or voltage.
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