Giant Seebeck effect across the field-induced metal-insulator transition of InAs
Abstract Lightly doped III–V semiconductor InAs is a dilute metal, which can be pushed beyond its extreme quantum limit upon the application of a modest magnetic field. In this regime, a Mott-Anderson metal–insulator transition, triggered by the magnetic field, leads to a depletion of carrier concen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2020-12-01
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| Series: | npj Quantum Materials |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-020-00296-0 |
| _version_ | 1818978959229976576 |
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| author | Alexandre Jaoui Gabriel Seyfarth Carl Willem Rischau Steffen Wiedmann Siham Benhabib Cyril Proust Kamran Behnia Benoît Fauqué |
| author_facet | Alexandre Jaoui Gabriel Seyfarth Carl Willem Rischau Steffen Wiedmann Siham Benhabib Cyril Proust Kamran Behnia Benoît Fauqué |
| author_sort | Alexandre Jaoui |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Lightly doped III–V semiconductor InAs is a dilute metal, which can be pushed beyond its extreme quantum limit upon the application of a modest magnetic field. In this regime, a Mott-Anderson metal–insulator transition, triggered by the magnetic field, leads to a depletion of carrier concentration by more than one order of magnitude. Here, we show that this transition is accompanied by a 200-fold enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient, which becomes as large as 11.3 mV K−1 $$\approx 130\frac{{k}_{B}}{e}$$ ≈ 130 k B e at T = 8 K and B = 29 T. We find that the magnitude of this signal depends on sample dimensions and conclude that it is caused by phonon drag, resulting from a large difference between the scattering time of phonons (which are almost ballistic) and electrons (which are almost localized in the insulating state). Our results reveal a path to distinguish between possible sources of large thermoelectric response in other low-density systems pushed beyond the quantum limit. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T16:51:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5a18d7ae74a14aeab76deba7e45838a9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2397-4648 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T16:51:55Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Quantum Materials |
| spelling | doaj.art-5a18d7ae74a14aeab76deba7e45838a92022-12-21T19:32:48ZengNature Portfolionpj Quantum Materials2397-46482020-12-01511610.1038/s41535-020-00296-0Giant Seebeck effect across the field-induced metal-insulator transition of InAsAlexandre Jaoui0Gabriel Seyfarth1Carl Willem Rischau2Steffen Wiedmann3Siham Benhabib4Cyril Proust5Kamran Behnia6Benoît Fauqué7JEIP, USR 3573 CNRS, Collège de France, PSL Research UniversityLaboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses (LNCMI-EMFL), CNRS, UGA, UPS, INSALaboratoire de Physique et Etude des Matériaux (CNRS/UPMC), Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie IndustriellesHigh Field Magnet Laboratory (HFML-EMFL), Radboud UniversityLaboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses (LNCMI-EMFL), CNRS, UGA, UPS, INSALaboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses (LNCMI-EMFL), CNRS, UGA, UPS, INSALaboratoire de Physique et Etude des Matériaux (CNRS/UPMC), Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie IndustriellesJEIP, USR 3573 CNRS, Collège de France, PSL Research UniversityAbstract Lightly doped III–V semiconductor InAs is a dilute metal, which can be pushed beyond its extreme quantum limit upon the application of a modest magnetic field. In this regime, a Mott-Anderson metal–insulator transition, triggered by the magnetic field, leads to a depletion of carrier concentration by more than one order of magnitude. Here, we show that this transition is accompanied by a 200-fold enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient, which becomes as large as 11.3 mV K−1 $$\approx 130\frac{{k}_{B}}{e}$$ ≈ 130 k B e at T = 8 K and B = 29 T. We find that the magnitude of this signal depends on sample dimensions and conclude that it is caused by phonon drag, resulting from a large difference between the scattering time of phonons (which are almost ballistic) and electrons (which are almost localized in the insulating state). Our results reveal a path to distinguish between possible sources of large thermoelectric response in other low-density systems pushed beyond the quantum limit.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-020-00296-0 |
| spellingShingle | Alexandre Jaoui Gabriel Seyfarth Carl Willem Rischau Steffen Wiedmann Siham Benhabib Cyril Proust Kamran Behnia Benoît Fauqué Giant Seebeck effect across the field-induced metal-insulator transition of InAs npj Quantum Materials |
| title | Giant Seebeck effect across the field-induced metal-insulator transition of InAs |
| title_full | Giant Seebeck effect across the field-induced metal-insulator transition of InAs |
| title_fullStr | Giant Seebeck effect across the field-induced metal-insulator transition of InAs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Giant Seebeck effect across the field-induced metal-insulator transition of InAs |
| title_short | Giant Seebeck effect across the field-induced metal-insulator transition of InAs |
| title_sort | giant seebeck effect across the field induced metal insulator transition of inas |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-020-00296-0 |
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