本文给出了Lu（1-x）Yb（x）Rh_2Si_2在3 K < T < 300 K温度范围内的热电势S（T）和电阻率ρ（T）。发现S（T）从稀体系（x < 0.5）的两个极小值变为纯YbRh_2Si_2中的一个大的极小值。对于磁对电阻率rho_mag（T）的贡献也发现了类似的行为。S（T）和rho_mag（T）中低温极值的出现是由于近藤尺度随x减小而降低。推导了近藤效应和晶体电场分裂的特征能量尺度的演化规律。外推法可以估计YbRh_2Si_2的近藤温度为29 K。
英文摘要：
We present the thermopower S(T) and the resistivity rho(T) of Lu(1-x)Yb(x)Rh2Si2 in the temperature range 3 K < T < 300 K. S(T) is found to change from two minima for dilute systems (x < 0.5) to a single large minimum in pure YbRh2Si2. A similar behavior has also been found for the magnetic contribution to the resistivity rho_mag(T). The appearance of the low-T extrema in S(T) and rho_mag(T) is attributed to the lowering of the Kondo scale with decreasing x. The evolution of the characteristic energy scales for both the Kondo effect and the crystal electric field splitting are deduced. An extrapolation allows to estimate the Kondo temperature of YbRh2Si2 to 29 K.
Certain classes of strongly correlated systems promise high thermopower efficiency, but a full understanding of correlation effects on the Seebeck coefficient is lacking. This is partly due to limitations of Boltzmann-type approaches. One needs a formula for the thermopower that allows separate investigations of the kinetic and potential energy contributions to the evolution with temperature and doping of the thermopower. Here we address this issue by deriving for Hubbard-like interactions a formula for the thermopower that separates the potential from the kinetic energy contribution and facil…
Temperature dependence of thermopower in the multiorbital Hubbard model is studied by using the dynamical mean-field theory with the non-crossing approximation impurity solver. It is found that the Coulomb interaction, the Hund coupling, and the crystal filed splitting bring about non-monotonic temperature dependence of the thermopower, including its sign reversal. The implication of our theoretical results to some materials is discussed.
Using the merger of local density approximation and dynamical mean field theory, we show how electronic correlations increase the thermopower of Na$_{0.7}$CoO$_2$ by 200%. The newly revealed mechanism is an asymmetric shift of (quasi) electrons and holes away from the Fermi level, concurrent with an asymmetry of the respective (group) velocities. Exploiting this effect in bandstructure and correlation engineering may lead to a substantial increase of the thermoelectric figure of merit.
We calculate the in-plane Seebeck coefficient of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ within a framework combining electronic structure and dynamical mean-field theory. We show that its temperature-dependence is consistent with entropic considerations embodied in the Kelvin formula, and that it provides a meaningful probe of the crossover out of the Fermi liquid regime into an incoherent metal. This crossover proceeds in two stages: the entropy of spin degrees of freedom is released around room-temperature while orbital degrees of freedom remain quenched up to much higher temperatures. This is confirmed by a direct …
The electronic structure and thermopower ($α$) behavior of LaFeO$_{3}$ compound were investigated by combining the ab-initio electronic structures and Boltzmann transport calculations. LSDA plus Hubbard U (U = 5 eV) calculation on G-type anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) configuration gives an energy gap of $\sim$2 eV, which is very close to the experimentally reported energy gap. The calculated values of effective mass of holes (m$^{*}$$_{h}$) in valance band (VB) are found $\sim$4 times that of the effective mass of electrons (m$^{*}$$_{e}$) in conduction band (CB). The large effective masses of hole…
The thermopower of few-electron quantum dots with Kondo correlations is investigated via a hierarchial equations of motion approach. The thermopower is determined by the line shape of spectral function within a narrow energy window defined by temperature. Based on calculations and analyses on single-level and two-level Anderson impurity models, the underlying relations between thermopower and various types of electron correlations are elaborated. In particular, an unconventional sign reversal behavior is predicted for quantum dots with a suitable inter-level spacing. The new feature highlights…
We consider the effect of disorder on the themopower in quantum Hall systems. For a sample in the Corbino geometry, where dissipative currents are not carried by edge states, we find that thermopower behaves at high temperatures like a system with a gap and has a maximum which increases as the temperature is reduced. At lower temperatures this maximum reduces as a function of temperature as a result of tunneling across saddle points in the background potential. Our model assumes that the mean saddle point height varies linearly with the deviation in filling factor from the quantized value. We …
We examine the temperature dependence of thermopower in the single band Hubbard model using dynamical mean-field theory. The strong Coulomb interaction brings about the coherent-to-incoherent crossover as temperature increases. As a result, the thermopower exhibits non-monotonic temperature dependence and asymptotically approaches values given by the Mott-Heikes formula. In the light of our theoretical result, we discuss the thermopower in some transition metal oxides. The magnetic field dependence of the thermopower is also discussed.
The effects of an electron-phonon ($e$-ph) interaction on the thermoelectric properties of Na$_x$CoO$_2$ are analyzed. By means of dynamical mean field theory calculations we find that the $e$-ph coupling acts in a cooperative way with the disorder, enhancing the effective binary disorder potential strength on the Co sites, which stems from the presence or absence of a neighboring Na atom. Hence, the inclusion of the $e$-ph coupling allows us to assume smaller values of the binary disorder potential strength -- which for Na$_x$CoO$_2$ are in fact also more reasonable. More generally, we can co…
Relationship between the thermopower and entropy of strongly correlated electron systems
最近的一些实验报道了强关联电子系统的低温热电势$α$和比热系数$γ=C_V/T$。用输运方程描述热电偶中的电荷和热输运，并假定电荷电流密度和热电流密度与载流子数密度成正比，得到了一个简单的平均场关系式，即$α$与载流子熵密度$\cal S$之间的关系式.我们讨论这个平均场公式的修正，并使用周期性安德森和Falicov-Kimball模型的结果来解释EuCu $_2$（Ge $_{1-x}$ Si $_x$）$_2$，CePt $_{1-x}$ Ni $_x$和Yb In $_{1-x}$ Ag ${_x}$ Cu $_4$金属间化合物中$α/γT$的浓度（化学压力）和温度依赖性。我们还表明，使用“穷人的映射”，它近似的周期性安德森晶格的单杂质安德森模型，似乎复杂的行为$α(T)$可以解释在简单的条款和温度依赖性的$α(T)$在每个掺杂水平是一致的4{ \it f}离子的磁性。
Electronic frustration and strong correlations may lead to large Seebeck coefficients. To understand this physics on general grounds, we compute the thermopower of the one-band Hubbard model on the 3-dimensional fcc lattice over the whole range of fillings for intermediate and large interaction strength. Dynamical mean-field theory shows that when the density approaches half-filling, the fcc lattice at strong coupling exhibits a large low temperature Seebeck coefficient $S$. The largest effect occurs as one approaches $n=1$ from dopings where electronic frustration is maximized. The high-frequ…
We study the spin thermopower in the two-channel spin-1/2 Kondo model which exhibits the phenomenon of impurity spin overscreening and non-Fermi-liquid properties. While magnetic field lower than the Kondo temperature does not strongly polarize the impurity spin, we show that it nevertheless strongly affects the low-energy part of the spectral function. In turn, this leads to characteristic saturation of the spin Seebeck coefficient at the value of 0.388kB/|e| at T ~ T*, where T* ~ B^2/TK is the scale of the crossover between the intermediate-temperature non-Fermi-liquid regime and the low-tem…
We calculate the thermopower of a quantum dot described by two doublets hybridized with two degenerate bands of two conducting leads, conserving orbital (band) and spin quantum numbers, as a function of the temperature $T$ and a splitting $δ$ of the quantum dot levels which breaks the SU(4) symmetry. The splitting can be regarded as a Zeeman (spin) or valley (orbital) splitting. We use the non-crossing approximation (NCA), the slave bosons in the mean-field approximation (SBMFA) and also the numerical renormalization group (NRG) for large $δ$. The model describes transport through clean C nano…
The increasing worldwide energy consumption calls for the design of more efficient energy systems. Thermoelectrics could be used to convert waste heat back to useful electric energy if only more efficient materials were available. The ideal thermoelectric material combines high electrical conductivity and thermopower with low thermal conductivity. In this regard, the intermetallic type-I clathrates show promise with their exceedingly low lattice thermal conductivities [1]. Here we report the successful incorporation of cerium as guest atom into the clathrate crystal structure. In many simpler …
Calculation of Optical Conductivity, Resistivity and Thermopower of Filled Skutterudite CeRu$_4$Sb$_{12}$ based on a Realistic Tight-binding Model with Strong Correlation
We have developed a method to probe the temperature of surface state electrons (SSE) above a superfluid Helium-4 surface using the Seebeck effect. In contrast to previously used SSE thermometry, this technique does not require detailed knowledge of the non-linear mobility. We demonstrate the use of this method by measuring energy relaxation of SSE at 1.6 K in a microchannel device with $0.6\:μ\mbox{m}$ deep helium. In this regime, both vapor atom scattering and 2-ripplon scattering contribute to energy relaxation to which we compare our measurements. We conclude that this technique provides a …
The effect of scattering of conduction electrons by dynamical spin fluctuations on the thermopower in metals near a thermal phase transition into an antiferromagnetic phase is considered. We are interested in a transition at room temperature, as has been studied in a heterostructure involving layers of IrMn. We show that the electrical resistivity exhibits a narrow but low peak at the transition, which may be difficult to detect on top of the main contributions induced by phonons and impurities. By contrast, the thermopower is found to exhibit a prominent peak both as a function of temperature…
Electronic structure across the metal-insulator (MI) transition of electron-doped V1-xWxO2 epitaxial films (x = 0-0.06) grown on alfa-Al2O3 substrates was studied by means of thermopower (S) measurements. Significant increase of |S|-values accompanied by MI transition was observed, and the transition temperatures of S (TS) decreased with x in good linear relation with MI transition temperatures. |S| values of V1-xWxO2 films at T > TS were constant at low values of 23 microV K-1 independently of x, which reflects a metallic electronic structure, whereas, those at T < TS almost linearly decrease…
We investigate the transport properties of LixCoO2 thin films whose resistivities are nearly an order of magnitude lower than those of the bulk polycrystals. A metal-nonmetal transition occurs at ~0.8 in a biphasic domain, and the Seebeck coefficient (S) is drastically increased at ~140 K (= T*) with increasing the Li concentration to show a peak of magnitude ~120 \muV/K in the S-T curve of x = 0.87. We show that T* corresponds to a crossover temperature in the conduction, most likely reflecting the correlation-induced temperature dependence in the low-energy excitations.
In the recent paper we explained why the maximum bulk resistivity of topological insulators (TIs)is so small [B. Skinner, T. Chen, and B. I. Shklovskii, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 176801 (2012)]. Using the model of completely compensated semiconductor we showed that when Fermi level is pinned in the middle of the gap the activation energy of resistivity $Δ=0.3 (E_g/2)$, where $E_g$ is the semiconductor gap. In this paper, we consider strongly compensated $n$-type semiconductor. We find position of the Fermi level $μ$ calculated from the bottom of the conduction band and the activation energy of the…
Na-site substitution effects of the thermoelectric properties of NaCo_2O_4
测量并分析了Na $_{1+x}$ Co $_2$ O $_4$和Na $_{1.1-x}$ Ca $_x$ Co $_2$ O $_4$的电阻率和热电势。在Na $_{1+x}$ Co $_2$ O $_4$中，电阻率随$x$增加，而热电势几乎与$x$无关。这表明过量的Na不太可能提供载流子，并且减少了样品中的有效导电路径。在Na $_{1.1-x}$ Ca $_x$ Co $_2$ O $_4$中，电阻率和热电势随着$x$而增加，并且Ca $^{2+}$取代Na $^+$减少了NaCo $_2$ O $_4$中的多数载流子。这意味着它们是孔，这与热电势的正号一致。该化合物的电阻率随温度变化的特性证明了该化合物具有很强的相关性。
Dirac/Weyl semimetals hosting linearly-dispersing bands have received recent attention for potential thermoelectric applications, since their ultrahigh-mobility carriers could generate large thermoelectric and Nernst power factors. To optimize these efficiencies, the Fermi energy needs to be chemically controlled in a wide range, which is generally difficult in bulk materials because of disorder effects from the substituted ions. Here it is shown that the Fermi energy is tunable across the Dirac point for layered magnet EuMnBi$_2$ by partially substituting Gd$^{3+}$ for Eu$^{2+}$ in the insula…
We investigate transport in strongly correlated metals. Within dynamical mean-field theory, we calculate the resistivity, thermopower, optical conductivity and thermodynamic properties of a hole-doped Mott insulator. Two well-separated temperature scales are identified: T_FL below which Landau Fermi liquid behavior applies, and T_MIR above which the resistivity exceeds the Mott-Ioffe-Regel value and `bad-metal' behavior is found. We show that quasiparticle excitations remain well-defined above T_FL and dominate transport throughout the intermediate regime T_FL < T_MIR. The lifetime of these `r…
We report a systematic investigation on the high-temperature thermoelectric response in a typical filling-control Mott transition system La1-xSrxVO3. In the vicinity of the Mott transition, incoherent charge transport appears with increasing temperature and the thermopower undergoes two essential crossovers, asymptotically approaching the limit values expected from the entropy consideration, as known as Heikes formula. By comparison with the results of the dynamical mean field theory, we show that the thermopower in the Mott critical state mainly measures the entropy per charge carrier that de…
