Thermoelectric and electrothermal effects

We study the interplay between the electronic and thermal degrees of freedom in nanostructures, both at linear response and far away from it. The relevance of thermoelectrics in nanoelectronics is twofold: on one hand mesoscopic phenomena modify the known thermoelectric properties found in bulk metals or semiconductors, and on the other hand controlling the heat flow in nanostructures at low temperatures is of extreme importance. Examples of the effects we study include especially the totally new type of supercurrent-induced linear-response thermoelectric phenomena in superconducting proximity structures which we described first with a microscopic theory, the studies of different energy relaxation mechanisms connected to electronic degrees of freedom, and the properties of superconductor-insulator-normal metal refrigerators.

Our recent publications connected to the thermoelectric and electrothermal effects (to get the papers, follow the links in the Publications page):

  1. Ojanen, T., [Thesis] Quantum fluctuations and transport in mesoscopic physics, Low Temperature Laboratory (2007).
  2. Virtanen, P. and Heikkilä, T.T., "Thermoelectric effects in superconducting proximity structures", Applied Physics A 89, 625-637 (2007).
  3. Ojanen, T. and Heikkilä, T.T., Photon heat transport in low-dimensional nanostructures, Physical Review B 76, 073414/1-4 (2007).
  4. Virtanen, P. and Heikkilä, T.T., Peltier effects in Andreev interferometers, Physical Review B, 75, 104517/1-5 (2007).
  5. Zou, J., Sosnin, I., Virtanen, P., Meschke, M., Petrashov, V.T., and Heikkilä, T.T., Influence of supercurrents on low-temperature thermopower in mesoscopic N/S structures, Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 146, 193-212 (2007).
  6. M.S. Crosser, Pauli Virtanen, Tero T. Heikkila, Norman O. Birge: Supercurrent-induced temperature gradient across a nonequilibrium SNS Josephson junction, Phys. Rev. Lett., 96, 167004 (2006).
  7. Francesco Giazotto, Tero T. Heikkilä, Arttu Luukanen, Alexander M. Savin, and Jukka P. Pekola: Opportunities for mesoscopics in thermometry and refrigeration: physics and applications, Rev. Mod. Phys. 78, 217 (2006).
  8. Voutilainen, J., Heikkilä, T., and Kopnin, N., Nonequilibrium phenomena in multiple normal-superconducting tunnel heterostructures, Physical Review B, 72, 054505/1-10 (2005).
  9. Pauli Virtanen and Tero T. Heikkilä: Thermopower induced by the supercurrent in superconductor-normal-metal structures, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 177004 (2004).
  10. Pekola, J.P., Heikkilä, T.T., Savin, A.M., Flyktman, J.T., Giazotto, F., and Hekking, F.W.J., Limitations in cooling electrons using normal-metal-superconductor tunnel junctions, Physical Review Letters, 92, 056804/1-4 (2004).
  11. Tero T. Heikkilä, Tommy Vänskä, and Frank K. Wilhelm: Supercurrent-induced Peltier-like effect, Phys. Rev. B 67, 100502(R) (2003).