Eur. Phys. J. B 13, 437-443 (2000)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050055

Simultaneous measurements of thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity and thermopower with application to copper and ceramic superconductors

¹ S.U.P.R.A.S., Montefiore Electricity Institute, B28, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium
² S.U.P.R.A.S., Physics Institute, B5, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium
³ S.U.P.R.A.S., Chemistry Institute, B6, University of Liège 4000 Liège, Belgium
⁴ Institute for Structural and Low Temperature Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, 50950 Wroclaw, Poland
⁵ Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 72, Tsarigradsko Chaussee, 1784 Sofia, Bulgaria

Received: 9 November 1998
Revised: 12 July 1999
Published online: 15 February 2000

Abstract

A home made experimental set-up allows us to measure the thermal conductivity, the thermopower and the thermal diffusivity simultaneously in the temperature range (20-300 K). Therefore the specific heat can be deduced. The role of a radiation shield is shown to be relevant. Tests of the system are made on a 99.9% pure Cu sample and two polycrystalline cuprate ceramics for illustration. Without any complicated optimisation, the technique indicates much promise already due to its efficiency and rapidity.