Prospects of high Tc superconductors in thermoelectric cooling

Analysis of different types of thermoelectric (TE) coolers shows that the magneto-TE (MTE) coolers with n-type Bi-Sb branches and passive high Tc superconducting (HTSC) branches instead of p-type ones are the most perspective at cryogenic temperatures. Application of HTSC materials gives opportunity to extend the TE or MTE coolers effective operation to temperatures 60 K<T<Tc, where Tc is HTSC material critical temperature. At present the 123-phase of YBa2Cu3O7-x films deposited on (100) SrTiO3 substrate are the best HTSC branches. Properties and assembling procedure of single stage MTE cooler with passive film HTSC branches is discussed. This cooler is aimed to operate as the last cooling and temperature stabilization stage together with various kinds of pre-coolers: Joule-Thomson micro refrigerator, space satellite heat radiator, liquid nitrogen tank. copyright 1995 American Institute of Physics