Session 2-4

Abstract

Nanoscale quantum materials such as graphene have emerged as a frontier in condensed matter and materials science, where a variety of correlated quantum phases such as superconductivity and correlated insulators in twisted bilayer graphene [1] are actively explored. In these systems, thermodynamic quantities such as specific heat, thermal transport, and, more fundamentally, the chemical potential, carry essential information about low-energy excitations, entropy, and critical behavior. However, direct thermal measurements on nanoscale systems remain challenging due to the extremely small sample volumes and the difficulty of coupling heat flow to sensitive detectors.

In this talk, I will introduce “thermodynamic charge pumping” as a new device-based method to address these challenges. By engineering nanodevices in which temporal temperature variations are converted into measurable charge responses, we establish a simple and versatile platform for nanoscale thermodynamic measurements. This approach provides direct access to dynamical heat responses without the complexity of traditional heater–detector geometries.

I will demonstrate how this method can be applied to extract fundamental thermal properties, such as the thermal diffusivity of insulating materials and the entropy of superconductors, and discuss its potential to reveal exotic thermodynamic phenomena including Planckian-limited thermal diffusivity, hydrodynamic phonon and magnon transport, and topological thermal effects. These device-physics approaches promise to extend nanoscale thermodynamics into a broad range of emerging material platforms, opening new opportunities for the systematic exploration of novel quantum states of matter.