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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Schamriß, Lukas, Garbe, Louis, Rabl, Peter
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.17530
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author Schamriß, Lukas
Garbe, Louis
Rabl, Peter
author_facet Schamriß, Lukas
Garbe, Louis
Rabl, Peter
contents We discuss a conceptually simple scheme for cooling a one dimensional gas of microwave photons in a superconducting transmission line. By shunting one end of the transmission line by a nonlinear Josephson element, we show how a cooling mechanism can be engineered that transfers photons from high- into low-frequency modes, while preserving their total number. We evaluate the resulting nonequilibrium steady state of the photon gas, which arises from a competition between this engineered cooling process and the natural, number non-conserving thermalization with the surrounding bath. Our analysis predicts that for realistic experimental parameters, this mechanism can be used to prepare photonic gases at sub-millikelvin temperatures, considerably below the typical base temperature of a dilution refrigerator. In addition, the system exhibits a new type of condensation transition that does not occur in the corresponding equilibrium scenario. As an outlook, we discuss potential applications of this cooling approach for quantum simulation schemes with interacting microwave photons.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_17530
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Refrigeration of a 1D gas of microwave photons
Schamriß, Lukas
Garbe, Louis
Rabl, Peter
Quantum Physics
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
We discuss a conceptually simple scheme for cooling a one dimensional gas of microwave photons in a superconducting transmission line. By shunting one end of the transmission line by a nonlinear Josephson element, we show how a cooling mechanism can be engineered that transfers photons from high- into low-frequency modes, while preserving their total number. We evaluate the resulting nonequilibrium steady state of the photon gas, which arises from a competition between this engineered cooling process and the natural, number non-conserving thermalization with the surrounding bath. Our analysis predicts that for realistic experimental parameters, this mechanism can be used to prepare photonic gases at sub-millikelvin temperatures, considerably below the typical base temperature of a dilution refrigerator. In addition, the system exhibits a new type of condensation transition that does not occur in the corresponding equilibrium scenario. As an outlook, we discuss potential applications of this cooling approach for quantum simulation schemes with interacting microwave photons.
title Refrigeration of a 1D gas of microwave photons
topic Quantum Physics
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.17530