Spin-dependent thermoelectric properties of a hybrid ferromagnetic metal/quantum dot/topological insulator junction

Abstract

The thermoelectric properties of hybrid system based on a single-level quantum dot coupled to a ferromagnetic metallic lead and attached to the surface states of a three-dimensional topological insulator are theoretically investigated. On the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator, massless helical Dirac fermions emerge. We calculate the thermoelectric coefficients, including electrical conductance, Seebeck coefficient (thermopower), heat conductance, and the figure of merit, using the nonequilibrium Green’s function technique. The results are analyzed in terms of the emergence of new effects. The calculations are performed within the Hubbard I approximation concerning the dot’s Coulomb interactions. Additionally, the spin-dependent coupling of the quantum dot to the ferromagnetic lead lifts the spin degeneracy of the dot’s level, which influences the transport properties of the system. We incorporate this effect perturbatively to obtain the spin-dependent renormalization of the dot’s level. We also consider the case of finite spin accumulation in the ferromagnetic electrode, which leads to spin thermoelectric effects.