Thermoelectric effects of an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer with an embedded quantum dot in the Kondo regime

TL;DR

This paper investigates thermoelectric effects in an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer with a quantum dot in the Kondo regime, revealing flux-dependent modulation and enhancement of thermopower due to Kondo correlations.

Contribution

It demonstrates how AB flux and tunneling amplitudes modulate thermopower and reveals the enhancement of thermoelectric effects near the Kondo temperature.

Findings

Thermopower is modulated by AB flux and tunneling amplitude.

Kondo correlation enhances thermopower near T_K.

AB oscillations in conductance are temperature-dependent, strengthening below T_K.

Abstract

Thermoelectric effects are studied in an Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometer with an embedded quantum dot in the Kondo regime. The AB flux-dependent transmission probability has an asymmetrical shape arising from the Fano interference between the direct tunneling path and the Kondo-resonant tunneling path through a quantum dot. The sign and magnitude of thermopower can be modulated by the AB flux and the direct tunneling amplitude. In addition, the thermopower is anomalously enhanced by the Kondo correlation in the quantum dot near the Kondo temperature ($T_K$). The Kondo correlation in the quantum dot also leads to crossover behavior in diagonal transport coefficients as a function of temperature. The amplitude of an AB oscillation in electric and thermal conductances is small at temperatures far above $T_K$, but becomes enhanced as the system is cooled below $T_K$. The AB oscillation is strong in the thermopower and Lorenz number within the crossover region near the Kondo temperature.