Thermal diffusion of quasiparticles and flux quanta in the mixed state of high-temperature superconductors

Abstract

In the mixed state of the copper-oxide superconductors the motion of the vortex structure due to a temperature gradient generates the Nernst and Seebeck effect. The first effect is essentially the result of the thermal force acting directly on the vortex lines. The second effect is primarily due to the thermal diffusion of quasiparticles which is compensated by a backflow supercurrent. In the mixed state both effects exist over the same temperature range over which the electric resistivity remains finite.