Abstract
We investigate the nonlinear regime of charge and energy transport through Coulomb-blockaded quantum dots. We discuss crossed effects that arise when electrons move in response to thermal gradients (Seebeck effect) or energy flows in reaction to voltage differences (Peltier effect). We find that the differential thermoelectric conductance shows a characteristic Coulomb butterfly structure due to charging effects. Importantly, we show that experimentally observed thermovoltage zeros are caused by the activation of Coulomb resonances at large thermal shifts. Furthermore, the power dissipation asymmetry between the two attached electrodes can be manipulated with the applied voltage, which has implications for the efficient design of nanoscale coolers.
Highlights
In 1993 Staring et al [1] reported an intriguing behavior of the thermovoltage Vth generated across a thermally driven Coulomb-blockaded quantum dot
Their observations first indicated an increase of Vth with the temperature bias, in agreement with the Seebeck effect
The effect was attributed to a temperatureinduced level renormalization because the piled-up charge depends on the applied thermal gradient [3]
Summary
In 1993 Staring et al [1] reported an intriguing behavior of the thermovoltage Vth generated across a thermally driven Coulomb-blockaded quantum dot. Inserting Eq (5) and the Gr expression in Eq (2), we calculate the I -V characteristic curves for different values of the dot level, see Fig. 1(a).
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