Abstract
We theoretically investigate thermoelectric effects in a quantum dot system under the influence of a linearly polarized photon field confined to a 3D cavity. A temperature gradient is applied to the system via two electron reservoirs that are connected to each end of the quantum dot system. The thermoelectric current in the steady state is explored using a quantum master equation. In the presence of the quantized photons, extra channels, the photon replica states, are formed generating a photon-induced thermoelectric current. We observe that the photon replica states contribute to the transport irrespective of the direction of the thermal gradient. In the off-resonance regime, when the energy difference between the lowest states of the quantum dot system is smaller than the photon energy, the thermoelectric current is almost blocked and a plateau is seen in the thermoelectric current for strong electron–photon coupling strength. In the resonant regime, an inversion of thermoelectric current emerges due to the Rabi-splitting. Therefore, the photon field can change both the magnitude and the sign of the thermoelectric current induced by the temperature gradient in the absence of a voltage bias between the leads.
Highlights
Thermoelectric transport through nanoscale systems has been studied experimentally [1,2] and theoretically [3,4,5], with the aim of controlling heat flow and harvesting thermal energy
The total system, the quantum dot (QD) system, and the leads are considered to be in a GaAs heterostructure where the relative dielectric constant is κ = 12.4 and the effective mass is m∗ = 0.067me [38,39]
The characteristics of thermoelectric transport through a quantum dot embedded in a short quantum wire interacting with either off- or on-resonant cavity photon fields have been investigated in a steady-state regime
Summary
Thermoelectric transport through nanoscale systems has been studied experimentally [1,2] and theoretically [3,4,5], with the aim of controlling heat flow and harvesting thermal energy. One approach has been to take into account the Rashba-spin orbit coupling in the dot system [14,15] or assume ferromagnetic lead-based spintronic devices. In both cases, the spin effects can cause an increase in the figure of merit and in thermal conductance, which are significant in controlling the performance of nanodevices. The spin effects can cause an increase in the figure of merit and in thermal conductance, which are significant in controlling the performance of nanodevices Another technique to control thermoelectric efficiency is to use a photon field. A thermoelectric current plateau in the off-resonance regime and current inversion in the resonant regime are found
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