Measurement of the thermoelectric power of very small samples at ambient and high pressures

There is currently much interest in the thermoelectric properties of materi als. A method for measuring the thermoelectric power of small single-crysta l or polycrystalline samples is described. For high-pressure measurements, the small samples are loaded into a diamond anvil cell and compressed. An i nfrared laser system is used to induce a temperature gradient in the sample . The thermoelectric power is measured with a pair of small thermocouples c ontacting the sample. Reported here is the thermoelectric power of Ni and t he previously reported intermetallic compound CePd3 up to 10 GPa. Other sta ndards measured by this method included: Bi, Yb, and CeSn3. (C) 1999 Americ an Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(99)00609-7].