Thermoelectric properties of Wigner crystal in two-dimensional periodic potential

TL;DR

This paper investigates the thermoelectric behavior of electrons in a two-dimensional periodic potential, revealing a transition from sliding to pinned phases and highlighting the high Seebeck coefficient in the Aubry phase, with implications for experiments on liquid helium surfaces.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical study of the 2D Aubry transition and its impact on thermoelectric properties, extending the understanding from 1D models to 2D systems.

Findings

Transition from sliding to pinned phase at critical potential amplitude

High Seebeck coefficient (up to 12) in the Aubry pinned phase

Seebeck coefficient influenced by potential geometry

Abstract

We study numerically transport and thermoelectric properties of electrons placed in a two-dimensional (2D) periodic potential. Our results show that the transition from sliding to pinned phase takes place at a certain critical amplitude of lattice potential being similar to the Aubry transition for the one-dimensional Frenkel-Kontorova model. We show that the 2D Aubry pinned phase is characterized by high values of Seebeck coefficient S = 12. At the same time we find that the value of Seebeck coefficient is significantly influenced by the geometry of periodic potential. We discuss possibilities to test the properties of 2D Aubry phase with electrons on a surface of liquid helium.