Thermoelectric single-photon detectors: isotropic Seebeck sensors

Energy transfer from hot-electrons to phonons at low temperatures may take a longer time than the duration of transient thermoelectric effect. In this time interval phonons are dynamically decoupled from hot-electron heat flux so that an effective enhancement of thermoelectric figure of merit takes place. Based on this conclusion, we developed a concept of single-photon microcalorimeter suitable for hyperspectral imaging at high photon counting rates.