We predict thermoelectric and current rectification effects in hybrid junctions formed by Ising superconductors and materials hosting valley-polarized states. Both effects originate from the interplay of intrinsic Ising spin-orbit coupling, spin-splitting from an exchange or Zeeman field, and valley polarization. The resulting transport signatures provide experimentally accessible probes of valley-polarized states in van der Waals heterostructures, such as junctions of few-layer transition metal dichalcogenides and twisted bilayer or rhombohedral graphene.
The electronic, phonon, and thermoelectric properties of a two-dimensional HfS2 monolayer are investigated by using the first-principles calculations combined with the Boltzmann transport theory. The band valleys of the HfS2 monolayer can be effectively tuned by the applied biaxial strain. The Seebeck coefficient and therefore the peak value of the power factor (with the relaxation time inserted) increase when the degeneracy of the band valleys is increased by the strain. When no strain is applied, the HfS2 monolayer is an excellent n-type thermoelectric material, while the thermoelectric perf…
Impact of Valley Degeneracy on Thermoelectric Properties of Zigzag Graphene Nanoribbons with Staggered Sublattice Potentials and Transverse Electric Fields
The strategy of band convergence of multi-valley conduction bands or multi-peak valence bands has been widely used to search or improve thermoelectric materials. However, the phonon-assisted intervalley scatterings due to multiple band degeneracy are usually neglected in the thermoelectric community. In this work, we investigate the (thermo)electric properties of non-polar monolayer $β$- and $α$-antimonene considering full mode- and momentum-resolved electron-phonon interactions. We also analyze thoroughly the selection rules on electron-phonon matrix-elements using group-theory arguments. Our…
We present electronic and transport properties of a zigzag nanoribbon made of alpha-$\mathcal{T}_3$ lattice. Our particular focus is on the effects of the continous evolution of the edge modes ( from flat to dispersive) on the thermoelectric transport properties. Unlike the case of graphene nanoribbon, the zigzag nanoribbon of $α-\mathcal{T}_3$ lattice can host a pair of dispersive (chiral) edge modes at the two valleys for specific width of the ribbon. Moreover, gap opening can also occur at the two valleys depending on the width. The slope of the chiral edge modes and the energy gap strongly…
Entropy is a fundamental thermodynamic quantity indicative of the accessible degrees of freedom in a system. While it has been suggested that the entropy of a mesoscopic system can yield nontrivial information on emergence of exotic states, its measurement in such small electron-number system is a daunting task. Here we propose a method to extract the entropy of a Coulomb-blockaded mesoscopic system from transport measurements. We prove analytically and demonstrate numerically the applicability of the method to such a mesoscopic system of arbitrary spectrum and degeneracies. We then apply our …
We provide a thermodynamically consistent description of energy, charge and spin transfers in a thermoelectric quantum-dot spin valve in the collinear configuration based on nonequilibrium Green's function and full counting statistics. We use the fluctuation theorem symmetry and the concept of entropy production to characterize the efficiency with which thermal gradients can transduce charges or spins against their chemical potentials, arbitrary far from equilibrium. Close to equilibrium, we recover the Onsager reciprocal relations and the connection to linear response notions of performance s…
The electronic, phonon and thermoelectric transport properties of (PbTe)2 layer are systematically investigated by using first-principles pseudopotential method and Boltzmann transport equation. Our calculations demonstrate that there is a valley degeneracy of six for the top valence band, which leads to larger carrier concentration and thus higher electrical conductivity without obvious reduction in the Seebeck coefficient. Moreover, the intrinsic van der Waals interactions between neighboring Pb layers induce additional phonon scattering and thus ultrasmall lattice thermal conductivity. As a…
We present a theory of thermoelectric transport in weakly disordered Weyl semimetals where the electron-electron scattering time is faster than the electron-impurity scattering time. Our hydrodynamic theory consists of relativistic fluids at each Weyl node, coupled together by perturbatively small inter-valley scattering, and long-range Coulomb interactions. The conductivity matrix of our theory is Onsager reciprocal and positive-semidefinite. In addition to the usual axial anomaly, we account for the effects of a distinct, axial-gravitational anomaly expected to be present in Weyl semimetals.…
Transition-metal dichalcogenides can be easily produced as atomically thin sheets, exhibiting the possibility to optically polarize and read out the valley pseudospin of extremely stable excitonic quasiparticles present in these 2D semiconductors. Here, we investigate a monolayer of tungsten disulphide in high magnetic fields up to 30\,T via photoluminescence spectroscopy at low temperatures. The valley degeneracy is lifted for all optical features, particularly for excitons, singlet and triplet trions, for which we determine the g factor separately. While the observation of a diamagnetic shif…
We examine the full static non-linear optical response of uniaxially strained transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers doped with a finite carrier density in the conduction band, in the presence of disorder. We find that the customary shift current is suppressed, yet we identify a strong, valley-dependent non-reciprocal response, which we term a \textit{unidirectional valley-contrasting photo-current} (UVCP). This DC current originates from the combined effect of strain and Kramers symmetry breaking by trigonal warping, while the contributions due to individual valleys can be separated by in…
We consider exciton-photon coupling in semiconductor microcavities in which separate periodic potentials have been embedded for excitons and photons. We show theoretically that this system supports degenerate ground-states appearing at non-zero in-plane momenta, corresponding to multiple valleys in reciprocal space, which are further separated in polarization corresponding to a polarization-valley coupling in the system. Aside forming a basis for valleytronics, the multivalley dispersion is predicted to allow for spontaneous momentum symmetry breaking and two-mode squeezing under non-resonant …
The quest for high-efficiency heat-to-electricity conversion has been one of the major driving forces towards renewable energy production for the future. Efficient thermoelectric devices require high voltage generation from a temperature gradient and a large electrical conductivity, while maintaining a low thermal conductivity. For a given thermal conductivity and temperature, the thermoelectric powerfactor is determined by the electronic structure of the material. Low dimensionality (1D and 2D) opens new routes to high powerfactor due to the unique density of states (DOS) of confined electron…
We consider a lateral hetero-junction where the left and right leads are made of monolayer graphene and the middle region is made of a gapped tilted Dirac material (borophene or quinoid graphene) illuminated with off-resonant circularly polarized radiation. The tilt parameter $v_t$ makes the band gap indirect and smaller in magnitude as compared to Dirac materials without tilt. Exposure to radiation makes the band gaps of the central region valley-dependent which show their signatures as valley polarized charge and thermal currents, thereby causing a valley Seebeck effect. We study the variati…
The band convergence strategy, which improves Seebeck coefficient by inducing multi-valley in bandstructures, has been widely used in thermoelectric performance (TE) enhancing. However, the phonon-assisted intervalley scattering effect is neglected and the mode-selection rules remain unclear. In this work, TE properties for $α$-, $β$- and $γ$-PbP are intestigated under the consideration of full mode-, energy- and momentum-resolved electron-phonon interactions (EPI). The group theory is used to analyze the selection rules for EPI matrix elements. Our calculations reveal that, the intervalley sc…
Spin-orbit coupling is a fundamental mechanism that connects the spin of a charge carrier with its momentum. Likewise, in the optical domain, a synthetic spin-orbit coupling is accessible, for instance, by engineering optical anisotropies in photonic materials. Both, akin, yield the possibility to create devices directly harnessing spin- and polarization as information carriers. Atomically thin layers of transition metal dichalcogenides provide a new material platform which promises intrinsic spin-valley Hall features both for free carriers, two-particle excitations (excitons), as well as for …
We present a general quantum kinetic theory that accounts for the interplay between a temperature gradient, momentum-space Berry curvatures of Bloch electrons, and Bloch-state scattering. Using a theory that incorporates the presence of a temperature gradient by introducing a "thermal vector potential", we derive a quantum kinetic equation for Bloch electrons in the presence of disorder and a temperature gradient. Taking also into account the presence of electric and magnetic fields, the quantum kinetic equation we derive makes it possible to compute transport coefficients at arbitrary orders …
Topological physics relies on the existence of Hamiltonian's eigenstate singularities carrying a topological charge, such as quantum vortices, Dirac points, Weyl points and -- in non-Hermitian systems -- exceptional points (EPs), lines or surfaces. They appear only in pairs connected by a Fermi arc and are related to a Hermitian singularity, such as a Dirac point. The annihilation of 2D Dirac points carrying opposite charges has been experimentally reported. It remained elusive for Weyl points and second order EPs terminating different Fermi arcs. Here, we observe the annihilation of second or…
Chiral Nonlinear Polaritonics with van der Waals Metasurfaces
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München（慕尼黑大学）；Universidade Federal de Pernambuco（伯南布哥联邦大学）；Monash University（莫纳什大学）；Imperial College London（帝国理工学院）；Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography, National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute"（库尔恰托夫国家研究中心舒比尼科夫晶体学研究所）；National University of Science and Technology ‘MISIS’（国立科技大学 MISIS）；Australian National University（澳大利亚国立大学）
