Thermoelectric effects in nanostructured quantum wires in the non-linear temperature regime

TL;DR

This paper investigates the thermoelectric voltage in nanostructured quantum wires beyond the linear temperature regime, revealing sign changes and effects of contact coupling and thermoelectric field.

Contribution

It introduces a scattering R-matrix method to analyze thermoelectric effects in quantum wires with non-linear temperature gradients, extending previous linear regime studies.

Findings

Sign changes of thermopower near resonances

Influence of contact coupling strength on thermoelectric voltage

Impact of thermoelectric field on voltage behavior

Abstract

The thermoelectric voltage of a quantum dot connected to leads is calculated using the scattering R-matrix method. Our approach takes into account a temperature gradient between the contacts beyond the linear regime. We obtain sign changes of the thermopower when varying the temperature or the chemical potential around the resonances. The influence of the coupling strength of the contacts and of the thermoelectric field on the thermoelectric voltage is discussed.