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Kondo resonance assisted thermoelectric transport through strongly correlated quantum dots

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Abstract

We theoretically studied the thermoelectric transport properties of a strongly correlated quantum dot system in the presence of the Kondo effect based on accurate numerical evaluations using the hierarchical equations of motion approach. The thermocurrent versus gate voltage shows a distinct sawtooth line-shape at high temperatures. In particular, the current changes from positive (hole charge) to negative (particle charge) in the electron number N = 1 region due to the Coulomb blockade effect. However, at low temperatures, where the Kondo effect occurs, the thermocurrent’s charge polarity reverses, along with a significantly enhanced magnitude. As anticipated, the current sign can be analyzed by the occupation difference between particle and hole. Moreover, the characteristic turnover temperature can be further defined at which the influences of the Coulomb blockade and Kondo resonance are in an effective balance. Remarkably, the identified characteristic turnover temperature, as a function of the Coulomb interaction and dot-lead coupling, possessed a much higher value than the Kondo temperature. When a magnetic field is applied, a spin-polarized thermocurrent can be obtained, which could be tested in future experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Beijing, 100193, China

    YongXi Cheng, HongGang Luo & HaiQing Lin

  2. Department of Science, Taiyuan Institute of Technology, Taiyuan, 030008, China

    YongXi Cheng

  3. School of Physical Science and Technology, Key Laboratory for Magnetism and Magnetic Materials of the MoE, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    ZhenHua Li & HongGang Luo

  4. Department of Physics, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China

    JianHua Wei

  5. Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    YiJing Yan

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  1. YongXi Cheng
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Correspondence to JianHua Wei or HongGang Luo.

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Cheng, Y., Li, Z., Wei, J. et al. Kondo resonance assisted thermoelectric transport through strongly correlated quantum dots. Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 63, 297811 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-019-1526-3

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