Photon-phonon-assisted thermoelectric effects in the molecular devices

TL;DR

This paper investigates how photon-phonon interactions influence thermoelectric properties in a quantum dot system under microwave and time-dependent gate voltages, revealing enhanced conductance and thermopower oscillations.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of thermoelectric effects in molecular devices considering photon-phonon interactions and external microwave fields using a Tien-Gordon-type approach.

Findings

Electrical conductance peaks are enhanced by microwave fields.

Thermopower oscillations increase with time-dependent gate voltage.

Electron-phonon interaction affects the figure of merit.

Abstract

We consider a single level quantum dot interacting with a phonon mode and weakly coupled to metallic leads which are subjected to a time dependent gate voltage. Electrical conductance, thermopower, and figure of merit are investigated in detail using a Tien-Gordon-type rate equation. In the presence of the microwave field, the electrical conductance exhibits extra peaks whose height is controlled by the magnitude of the microwave field. Furthermore, the oscillation of the thermopower increases in the presence of the time-dependent gate voltage or the electron-phonon interaction. Influence of the electron-phonon interaction, microwave field, temperature, and Coulomb interaction on the figure of merit is also studied.