Ac thermoelectric response in the nanostructure and corresponding nonlinear kinetic coefficients

Abstract

In this paper we study the low-frequency and weakly nonlinear thermoelectric response in multiprobe mesoscopic systems at low temperature. An explicit formulation of frequency-dependent kinetic coefficients has been developed. We derive the relations for various thermoelectric coefficients in a multichannel case. The theory includes contributions from displacement components due to internal interactions which relate to the redistribution of electrons inside the structure. It is shown that the phenomenological formalism exists in a typical form at low temperature. The formulation conceptually satisfies the requirements of the charge and energy conservation, as well as the gauge invariance. As an example, we illustrate the application of the frequency-dependent thermoelectric response formalism by a double-barrier structure. The formulation allows exact analytical and numerical calculations of much more general problems in quantum transports at finite temperatures.