2012 Physics Colloquium - IV
Gate Controlled Spin-Orbit Interaction and 1D
Thermoelectric Transport in InAs Nanowires
Prof. Xuan Gao
Department of Physics
Case Western Reserve University
InAs nanowires provide an interesting nanomaterial platform for spintronic device and
thermoelectric energy conversion applications, owing to their strong quantum
confinement and spin orbit interaction (SOI) effects. Manipulating the SOI and
thermoelectric transport in InAs nanowires is thus of great interest for both the
fundamental quantum transport and applied nanotechnology research. First, we will
discuss our recent results of gate induced generation and control of the Rashba SOI in
InAs nanowires, which is essential for the realization of many spintronic devices. Second,
we present a study of the thermoelectric properties of InAs nanowires where the gate
was used to sweep the electrons’ Fermi level through quantized one-dimensional (1D)
subbands. At temperatures below c.a. 100K, large oscillations in the thermopower and
power factor concomitant with the stepwise conductance increases are observed due to
the formation of 1D electron sub-bands. This work experimentally demonstrates the
possibility to tailor nanowire’s thermoelectric properties through 1D quantum
confinement effect, a long-sought goal in nanostructured thermoelectrics research.
4:00 pm on September 27th, 2012
245 Physics Building
Refreshment starts 3:45 pm