Transverse thermoelectricity in a tilted metallic multilayer structure

Thermoelectricity is investigated in a material designed to show anisotropic transport properties: Copper/constantan/copper multilayer structures were prepared by sintering of a compressed stack of alternating foils of these materials and are described by effective,,in-plane" properties S-parallel to and k(parallel to) for the Seebeck-coefficient and the thermal conductivity along the layers, and,,out-of-plane"-properties S-perpendicular to, and k(perpendicular to), along the stack axis. Samples in form of thin slabs prepared by cutting the stack obliquely to the stack axis showed thermoelectric fields transverse to temperature gradients across the slab due to off-diagonal elements in the Seebeck-tensor, and may be used as devices for detection of laser radiation.