Valleytronics, Carrier Filtering and Thermoelectricity in Bismuth: Magnetic Field Polarization Effects

Abstract

AbstractValley polarization of multi‐valleyed materials is of significant interest for potential applications in electronic devices. The main challenge is removing the valley degeneracy in some controllable way. The unique properties of bismuth, including its anisotropic electronic structure and Dirac valley degeneracy, make this material an excellent system for valleytronics. It is demonstrated theoretically that the direction of an externally applied magnetic field in the binary‐bisectrix plane has a profound effect not only on the charge, but also on the thermal transport along the trigonal direction. The rotating field probes the electronic mass anisotropy and tunes the contribution from a particular Dirac valley in the electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity at moderate temperatures and field strengths. It is further shown that the field polarization of the transport properties is accompanied by selective filtering of the carriers type providing further opportunities for thermoelectric transport control.