Thermoelectric effects in the superconducting state

A wide variety of interesting thermoelectric effects can be exist in superconductors, even though all conventional thermoelectric properties vanish. This paper discusses some of the phenomena predicted to occur in a superconductor with a temperature gradient, and reviews experiments that have been conducted to observe them. Although the present theory of non-equilibrium superconductivity has been very successful in describing most quasiparticle transport effects, the field of thermoelectricity has been characterized by large discrepancies between theory and experiment. Some of these discrepancies remain unresolved. However, a new class of effects, in which the thermoelectric response creates a charge imbalance in a superconductor, has been proposed and observed, confirming some aspects of the thermoelectric transport theory.