The thermoelectric properties of a three terminal quantum spin Hall (QSH) sample are examined. Inherent helicity of the QSH sample helps to generate a large charge power efficiently. Along with charge the system can be designed to work as a highly efficient spin heat engine too. The advantage of a helical over a chiral sample is that, while a multiterminal quantum Hall sample can only work as a quantum heat engine due to broken time reversal(TR) symmetry, a multiterminal QSH system can work effectively both as a charge/spin heat engine as well as a charge/spin refrigerator as TR symmetry is preserved.
@article{arxiv.1712.03175,
title = {Helical thermoelectrics and refrigeration},
author = {Arjun Mani and Colin Benjamin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1712.03175},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. E