Phonon-drag thermopower and hot-electron energy-loss rate in a Rashba spin-orbit coupled two-dimensional electron system

J Phys Condens Matter. 2013 Jul 3;25(26):265301. doi: 10.1088/0953-8984/25/26/265301. Epub 2013 Jun 10.

Abstract

We theoretically study the phonon-drag contribution to the thermoelectric power and the hot-electron energy-loss rate in a Rashba spin-orbit coupled two-dimensional electron system in the Bloch-Gruneisen (BG) regime. We assume that electrons interact with longitudinal acoustic phonons through a deformation potential and with both longitudinal and transverse acoustic phonons through a piezoelectric potential. The effect of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction on the magnitude and temperature dependence of the phonon-drag thermoelectric power and hot-electron energy-loss rate is discussed. We numerically extract the exponent of temperature dependence of the phonon-drag thermopower and the energy-loss rate. We find that the exponents are suppressed due to the presence of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling.

MeSH terms

  • Electrons*
  • Hot Temperature
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Phonons*