NONLINEAR THERMOELECTRIC TRANSPORT THROUGH A DOUBLE BARRIER STRUCTURE

Abstract

We present a theoretical analysis of thermoelectric transport in the nonlinear regime. The thermopower and thermoconductance at finite temperature gradient are calculated numerically for a double barrier structure using Landauer Büttiker like formula. The thermopower is found to oscillate with the chemical potential. Thermopower can either be negative or positive which is well correlated with the behavior of the electric conductance. The thermal conductance is positive definite showing that the heat energy is always transferred from hot end to cold end. As the chemical potential is varied, nonlinear thermal conductance exists plateau-like features.