2007/03/13 by Pauli Virtanen, Tero T. Heikkila, Tero T. Heikkilä
Physics and Astronomy · #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Superconducting and THz Device Technology #Surface and Thin Film Phenomena #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.75.104517
published as Phys. Rev. B 75, 104517 (2007) · 5 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2007/03/13 · openalex publication_date 2007/03/29 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The superconducting proximity effect is known to modify transport properties of hybrid normal-superconducting structures. In addition to changing electrical and thermal transport separately, it alters the thermoelectric effects. Changes to one off-diagonal element L12 of the thermoelectric matrix L have previously been studied via the thermopower, but the remaining coefficient L21, which is responsible for the Peltier effect, has received less attention. We discuss symmetry relations between L21 and L12 in addition to the Onsager reciprocity, and calculate Peltier coefficients for a specific structure. Similar to the thermopower, for finite phase differences of the superconducting order parameter, the proximity effect creates a Peltier effect significantly larger than the one present in purely normal-metal structures. This results from the fact that a nonequilibrium supercurrent carries energy.