Heat Transistor: Demonstration of Gate-Controlled Electron Refrigeration

Abstract

We present experiments on a superconductor-normal metal electron refrigerator in a regime where single-electron charging effects are significant. The system functions as a heat transistor, i.e., the heat flux out from the normal metal island can be controlled with a gate voltage. A theoretical model developed within the framework of single-electron tunneling provides a full quantitative agreement with the experiment. This work serves as the first experimental observation of Coulombic control of heat transfer and, in particular, of refrigeration in a mesoscopic system.