Signatures of an Anomalous Nernst Effect in a Mesoscopic Two-Dimensional Electron System

TL;DR

This study explores the Nernst effect in a mesoscopic 2D electron system, revealing an anomalous component linked to oscillatory Hall effects, with implications for understanding spin-correlated states.

Contribution

It reports the observation of an anomalous Nernst component correlated with Hall oscillations in a mesoscopic 2DES, a novel insight into spin-related phenomena.

Findings

Nernst signal matches semi-classical predictions

Mesoscopic fluctuations decrease with temperature

Anomalous Nernst component correlates with Hall oscillations

Abstract

We investigate the Nernst effect in a mesoscopic two-dimensional electron system (2DES) at low magnetic fields, before the onset of Landau level quantization. The overall magnitude of the Nernst signal agrees well with semi-classical predictions. We observe reproducible mesoscopic fluctuations in the signal which diminish significantly with an increase in temperature. We also show that the Nernst effect exhibits an anomalous component which is correlated with an oscillatory Hall effect. This behavior may be able to distinguish between different spin-correlated states in the 2DES.