Thermionic phenomena in a nanoscale ring without carrier reservoirs: A thermionic couple
We have studied various thermionic processes in a small one-dimensional ring consisting of a metallic wire and an insulator which serves as the potential barrier for the charge carriers in the metallic wire. The ring is not connected to any particle reservoir, but at the two junctions it is attached to two phonon reservoirs with different temperatures. The lengths of both the metallic wire and the
