Eur. Phys. J. B (2015) 88: 344
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2015-60674-3

Regular Article

Resonant plasmon-phonon coupling and its role in magneto-thermoelectricity in bismuth

Institute for Theoretical Physics, Center for Extreme Matter and Emergent Phenomena, Utrecht University, Leuvenlaan 4, 3584 CE Utrecht, The Netherlands

^a e-mail: P.M.Chudzinski@uu.nl

Received: 14 August 2015
Received in final form: 30 October 2015
Published online: 21 December 2015

Abstract

Using diagrammatic methods we derive an effective interaction between a low energy collective movement of fermionic liquid (acoustic plasmon) and acoustic phonon. We show that the coupling between the plasmon and the lattice has a very non-trivial, resonant structure. When real and imaginary parts of the acoustic plasmon’s velocity are of the same order as the phonon’s velocity, the resonance qualitatively changes the nature of phonon-drag. In the following we study how magneto-thermoelectric properties are affected. Our result suggests that the novel mechanism of energy transfer between electron liquid and crystal lattice can be behind the huge Nernst effect in bismuth.