PreprintarXiv licencearXiv
Turning a superconducting diode into a Feynman ratchet to realize a nanoscale heat engine
Abstract
Feynman's ratchet illustrates how work can be extracted from thermal fluctuations in the presence of two heat baths at different temperatures. While some experimental realizations of the ratchet effect have been studied, most lack miniaturization, which is important for some applications. Here, we propose a physical implementation of Feynman's ratchet based on Josephson junctions exhibiting the superconducting diode effect. This setup functions as a heat engine that generates work solely from a temperature gradient via thermal fluctuations. We analyze its output power and efficiency, and, through the Seebeck coefficient, identify the conditions under which the device operates in reverse, functioning instead as a Peltier cooler.
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BibTeX
@misc{kontogeorgiou2026turning,
title = {{Turning a superconducting diode into a Feynman ratchet to realize a nanoscale heat engine}},
author = {Konstantinos Kontogeorgiou and İnanç Adagideli and Géraldine Haack and Fabian Hassler},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.17257},
eprint = {2610.17257},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.17257},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Turning a superconducting diode into a Feynman ratchet to realize a nanoscale heat engine
AU - Konstantinos Kontogeorgiou
AU - İnanç Adagideli
AU - Géraldine Haack
AU - Fabian Hassler
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.17257
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.17257
AB - Feynman's ratchet illustrates how work can be extracted from thermal fluctuations in the presence of two heat baths at different temperatures. While some experimental realizations of the ratchet effect have been studied, most lack miniaturization, which is important for some applications. Here, we propose a physical implementation of Feynman's ratchet based on Josephson junctions exhibiting the superconducting diode effect. This setup functions as a heat engine that generates work solely from a temperature gradient via thermal fluctuations. We analyze its output power and efficiency, and, through the Seebeck coefficient, identify the conditions under which the device operates in reverse, functioning instead as a Peltier cooler.
ER -