A thermal radiation detector employing the Nernst effect in Cd3As2-NiAs

Abstract

The material parameters that are important in the detection of thermal radiation by means of the Nernst effect are first considered. Then a simple treatment of the thermomagnetic properties of an aligned two-phase system is given and applied to eutectics based on the semiconductor Cd3As2. The results of experiments on radiation detection using the Cd3As2-NiAs eutectic are reported. These results indicate that the NiAs concentration is too small to have any beneficial effect other than that of giving added mechanical strength. Nevertheless it appears that a Cd3As2-NiAs detector operating at room temperature in a magnetic field of 0·7 tesla is about three times as sensitive as one made from InSb-NiSb having the same electrical resistance and response time.