title: A thermoelectric heat engine with ultracold atoms.
abstract: Thermoelectric effects, such as the generation of a particle current by a temperature gradient, have their origin in a reversible coupling between heat and particle flows. These effects are fundamental probes for materials and have applications to cooling and power generation. Here, we demonstrate thermoelectricity in a fermionic cold atoms channel in the ballistic and diffusive regimes, connected to two reservoirs. We show that the magnitude of the effect and the efficiency of energy conversion can be optimized by controlling the geometry or disorder strength. Our observations are in quantitative agreement with a theoretical model based on the Landauer-Büttiker formalism. Our device provides a controllable model system to explore mechanisms of energy conversion and realizes a cold atom-based heat engine.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zürich, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Brantut
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grenier
authors.forename: Jakob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meineke
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stadler
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krinner
authors.forename: Corinna
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kollath
authors.forename: Tilman
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Esslinger
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Georges