Thermopower of one-dimensional devices – measurement and applications

✍ Scribed by N.J Appleyard; J.T Nicholls; W.R Tribe; M.Y Simmons; M Pepper

• Book ID: 104429400
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 151 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1386-9477
• DOI: 10.1016/s1386-9477(99)00102-2

✦ Synopsis

We have developed a technique to measure the thermopower of a mesoscopic device. Absolute calibration is possible, and we ÿnd that a constriction in a 2D electron gas obeys theoretical predictions su ciently well that its thermopower can be used for electron thermometry. This has been applied to measure heat loss rates from the 2DEG at zero ÿeld, leading to the electron-phonon scattering rate. The same technique can determine the e ect of a quantising magnetic ÿeld on the coupling, and the electron thermometry also allows a calibrated measurement of the thermal conductance of a mesoscopic device. We discuss how such measurements might be realised.