(1) St. Petersburg State Technical University, ul. Politekhnicheskaya 29, St. Petersburg, 195251, Russia;(2) Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Politekhnicheskaya 26, St. Petersburg, 194021, Russia
Abstract:
The thermoelectric parameters of an artificially anisotropic material composed of semiconducting and superconducting layers are considered. The transverse thermoelectric figure of merit and the sensitivity of a sensor responding to small heat fluxes are calculated. The use of high-temperature superconductor layers appreciably changes the optimal geometry of the layered structure (layer inclination angle and thickness ratio) compared with normal conductors. The figure of merit and the sensitivity of a thermoelectric element with superconducting layers exceed the respective parameters of a structure with metallic layers by a factor of 2–3.