Thermoelectric transport in a correlated electron system on the surface of liquid helium

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the direct measurement of thermoelectric transport in a nondegenerate correlated electron system on liquid helium, revealing the Seebeck effect and aligning with theoretical kinetic models.

Contribution

It provides the first direct observation of thermoelectric effects in a disorder-free correlated electron system on liquid helium surface.

Findings

Electrons exhibit lateral flow induced by microwave excitation.

The flow is due to the Seebeck effect in the electron system.

Experimental results agree with kinetic theory calculations.

Abstract

We report on the direct observation of the thermoelectric transport in a nondegenerate correlated electron system formed on the surface of liquid helium. We find that the microwave-induced excitation of the vertical transitions of electrons between the surface-bound states leads to their lateral flow, which we were able to detect by employing a segmented electrode configuration. We show that this flow of electrons arises due to the Seebeck effect, thus our method provides a new tool to study thermoelectricity in a disorder-free correlated electron system. Our experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical calculations based on kinetic equations, with proper account of fast electron-electron collisions.