Thermoelectric probe for the Rashba spin-orbit interaction strength in a two dimensional electron gas.

The thermoelectric coefficients of a two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) with the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI) are presented here. In the absence of a magnetic field, thermoelectric coefficients are enhanced due to the Rashba SOI. In the presence of a magnetic field, the thermoelectric coefficients of spin-up and spin-down electrons oscillate with different frequencies and produces beating patterns in the components of the total thermoelectric power and the total thermal conductivity. We also provide analytical expressions for the thermoelectric coefficients to explain the formation of the beating pattern. We obtain a simple relation which determines the strength of the Rashba SOI if the magnetic fields corresponding to any two successive beat nodes are known from the experiment.