Unidirectional Seebeck effect in magnetic topological insulators

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the temperature gradient-dependent or unidirectional Seebeck effect (USE) in a magnetic/ nonmagnetic topological insulator (TI) heterostructure with in-plane magnetization in terms of the semiclassical electron dynamics and Fermi golden rule. The USE has a quantum origin arising from the magnon asymmetric scattering of surface Dirac electrons on TI. We discuss the USE in the heterostructures, Cr${}_x$(Bi${}_{1-y}$Sb${}_y$)${}_{2-x}$Te${}_3$/ (Bi${}_{1-y}$Sb${}_y{)}_2$Te${}_3$. The USE exhibits $\cos \varphi$-dependence (measured from $y$-direction) on the orientation of magnetization. It's found that the sign of USE stays unchanged when the system is transferred from $p$-doping to $n$-doping. The USE shows on inverse-linearly temperature dependent at high temperature.

11 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (7)

• Superconducting proximity effect and Majorana fermions at the surface of a topological insulator
• Quantized Anomalous Hall Effect in Magnetic Topological Insulators
• Observation of the Magnon Hall Effect
• Large Unidirectional Magnetoresistance in a Magnetic Topological Insulator
• Quantum Hall Effect on Top and Bottom Surface States of Topological Insulator (Bi1-xSbx)2Te3 Films
• Topological Nonlinear Anomalous Nersnt Effect in Strained Transition Metal Dichalcogenides
• A spincaloritronic battery

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Hexagonal Warping Induced Nonlinear Planar Nernst Effect in Nonmagnetic Topological Insulators