Cavity-photon controlled thermoelectric transport through a quantum wire

TL;DR

This paper explores how a quantized photon field influences thermoelectric transport in a quantum wire, revealing current inversion and reduction effects depending on photon energy and resonance conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of photon-assisted thermoelectric transport in quantum wires, highlighting the effects of off-resonant and resonant photon fields on current behavior.

Findings

Current inversion occurs with off-resonant photon fields.

Resonant photon fields cause a reduction in thermoelectric current.

Photon replica states participate in transport processes.

Abstract

We investigate the influence of a quantized photon field on thermoelectric transport of electrons through a quantum wire embedded in a photon cavity. The quantum wire is connected to two electron reservoirs at different temperatures leading to a generation of a thermoelectric current. The transient thermoelectric current strongly depends on the photon energy and the number of photons initially in the cavity. Two different regimes are studied, off-resonant and resonant polarized fields, with photon energy smaller than, or equal to the energy spacing between some of the lowest states in the quantum wire. We observe that the current is inverted for the off-resonant photon field due to participation of photon replica states in the transport. A reduction in the current is recorded for the resonant photon field, a direct consequence of the Rabi-splitting.