The response of electric devices to an applied thermal gradient has, so far, been studied almost exclusively in two-terminal devices. Here we present measurements of the response to a thermal bias of a four-terminal, quasi-ballistic junction with a central scattering site. We find a novel transverse thermovoltage measured across isothermal contacts. Using a multi-terminal scattering model extended to the weakly non-linear voltage regime, we show that the device's response to a thermal bias can be predicted from its nonlinear response to an electric bias. Our approach forms a foundation for the discovery and understanding of advanced, nonlocal, thermoelectric phenomena that in the future may lead to novel thermoelectric device concepts.
@article{arxiv.1107.3179,
title = {Thermally driven ballistic rectifer},
author = {Jason Matthews and David Sánchez and Marcus Larsson and Heiner Linke},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1107.3179},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
4 pages, 4 figures; minor to moderate clarifications and simplifications in v3