Nernst effect by laser-pulse heating in Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu-O superconducting thin films

Abstract
The Nernst effect has been observed in a high-temperature superconductor with a laser-pulse-heating method. Irradiating a Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu-O film by a short laser pulse, a voltage signal transverse to an external, surface-parallel magnetic field has been observed. This signal is attributed to vortex depinning and vortex transport driven by the laser-induced temperature gradient. We describe our results by thermal flux tube activation and find a distribution of pinning energies from about 100 to 4000 K.