Optical control of spin-dependent thermal transport in a quantum ring

We report on calculation of spin-dependent thermal transport through a quantum ring with the Rashba spin-orbit interaction. The quantum ring is connected to two electron reservoirs with different temperatures. Tuning the Rashba coupling constant, degenerate energy states are formed leading to a suppression of the heat and thermoelectric currents. In addition, the quantum ring is coupled to a photon cavity with a single photon mode and linearly polarized photon field. In a resonance regime, when the photon energy is approximately equal to the energy spacing between two lowest degenerate states of the ring, the polarized photon field can significantly control the heat and thermoelectric currents in the system. The roles of the number of photon initially in the cavity, and electron-photon coupling strength on spin-dependent heat and thermoelectric currents are presented. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.