Highly sensitive thermo-electric radiation detector

摘要

A thermoelectric radiation detector has a substrate (1) bearing a surface layer (2) of YBa2Cu3O7 in which the CuO planes (3) are inclined w.r.t. the layer plane, the novelty being that, at least in partial regions of the layer, the Y is (partially) substd. by at least one other rare earth metal, the Ba is (partially) substd. by at least one other alkaline earth metal and/or the Cu is (partially) substd. by at least one other heavy metal. Also claimed is a similar detector in which the layer (2) consists of BimCan-1SrnCunO2n+m+2, n and m being chosen such that the thermal emf. anisotropy is a maximum.Further claimed is a thermoelectric radiation detector with a substrate bearing a layer of a crystalline solid having an anisotropic thermal emf., the surface normal of the layer not coinciding with one of the main anisotropy directions. The novelty is that the layer is formed of a superlattice of alternate material A and B layers, in which A and B are perovskite-like oxidic materials.