THETRACOM: Thermalization, transport and complexity at nanoscale
Research project selected under the 2016 call for proposals
Principal Investigator :
Dima Shepelyansky ()
LPT
Type of project : Disruptive Project
Date (start/end) : 2017 - 2019
Dependence of thermoelectric figure of merit ZT (color) on temperature T and periodic potential amplitude K for a Wigner crystal of electrons in 1D periodic potential (Kc is the critial amplitude of Aubry transition from sliding to pinning ) ;from EPL v.103, p.68008 (2013).
Abstract
The project THETRACOM investigates the fundametal properties of thermoelectricity and transport of interacting electrons at nanoscale. The previous partner results obtained for Wigner crystal in a periodic potential demonstrated possibilities to reach the high values of figure of merit (ZT >3) inside the pinned Aubry phase. It is shown that the interactions between electrons are at the origin of this high thermo- electric efficiency. This model has been realized by Vuletic group at MIT (Nature Mat 2016) with cold ions in optical lattices. An effective magnetic flux in such lattices of Harper model type is of the order of flux quantum (hc/e) corresponding to very high artificial magnetic fields (about 1000 Tesla for 1nm X 1nm) being much larger those available at LNCMI Toulouse. Our preliminary studies demonstrate appearance of delocalized electron pairs when all one-particle states are exponentially localized. The project will lead to new physics of thermoelectricity and development of new efficient thermoelectric materials.