# Observation of a thermoelectric Hall plateau in the extreme quantum limit

## TL;DR

This study observes a stable thermoelectric Hall plateau in ZrTe$_5$ under extreme magnetic fields, revealing a unique quantum signature of 3D Dirac electrons and significant enhancement of thermoelectric effects.

## Contribution

It reports the first observation of a thermoelectric Hall plateau in a 3D Dirac semimetal, providing theoretical explanation and experimental evidence of its robustness and significance.

## Key findings

- Thermoelectric Hall conductivity $oldsymbol{ ext{α}}_{xy}$ forms a field-independent plateau.
- Other thermoelectric coefficients like thermopower are greatly enhanced at low fields.
- The plateau is a signature of 3D Dirac or Weyl electrons in the quantum limit.

## Abstract

The thermoelectric Hall effect is the generation of a transverse heat current upon applying an electric field in the presence of a magnetic field. Here we demonstrate that the thermoelectric Hall conductivity $\alpha_{xy}$ in the three-dimensional Dirac semimetal ZrTe$_5$ acquires a robust plateau in the extreme quantum limit of magnetic field. The plateau value is independent of the field strength, disorder strength, carrier concentration, or carrier sign. We explain this plateau theoretically and show that it is a unique signature of three-dimensional Dirac or Weyl electrons in the extreme quantum limit. We further find that other thermoelectric coefficients, such as the thermopower and Nernst coefficient, are greatly enhanced over their zero-field values even at relatively low fields.