Nernst effect studies of Cooper pair fluctuations

In this proceeding, we summarize the experimental work leading to the discovery of the Nernst signal generated by Cooper pair fluctuations. We will show that this Nernst signal has remarkable characteristics that enable an unambiguous identification of these fluctuations. In particular, the Nernst coefficient evolves symmetrically with respect to temperature and magnetic field, reflecting the symmetric role of the correlation and magnetic lengths. In the field dependence of the Nernst signal, this leads to a characteristic maximum at the Ghost Critical Field, B*=Φ02πξ2. These results provide a solid reference against which studies of superconducting fluctuations in unconventional superconductors or in the quantum regime should be confronted.