Superconductors II

-When a metal is cooled to the critical temperature, electrons in the metal form Cooper Pairs.

-Cooper Pairs are electrons which exchange phonons and become bound together.
-Bound electrons behave like bosons. Their wavefunctions dont obey
Pauli exclusion rule and thus they can all occupy the same quantum state.
-The BCS theory of Superconductivity states that bound photons have slightly lower
energy, which prevents lattice collisions and thus eliminates resistance.
-As long as kT < binding energy, then a current can flow without dissipation.

Types of Superconductors

Type II
Gradual loss of
magnetisation
Does not exhibit complete
Meissner Effect
Two HCs HC1 & HC2 (30
tesla)
Mixed state present
Hard superconductor
Eg.s Nb-Sn, Nb-Ti

Type I
Sudden loss of
magnetisation
Exhibit Meissner Effect
One HC = 0.1 tesla

No mixed state
Soft superconductor
Eg.s Pb, Sn, Hg

- Superconducting
M

Superconductin
g
Mixe
d

Normal

HC

HC1

HC

Norm
al
HC2
H

Cooper Pairs
-Cooper pairs can tunnel together through the insulating layer of Josephson Junction.
-This process is identical to that of quantum barrier
penetration in quantum mechanics.
-Because of the superconducting nature (no
resistance) and the fact that Cooper pairs
can jointly tunnel through an insulator we can
maintain a quantum current through the Josephson Junction without an applied voltage.
-A changing magnetic field induces a current to flow in a ring of metal, this effect
can be used to detect flux quanta. Radio Astronomy uses these devices frequently.
-Thus a Josephson Junction can be used as a very sensitive voltage, current or
flux detector.

Types I Superconductors
There are 30 pure metals which exhibit zero
resistivity at low temperature.
They are called Type I superconductors
(Soft Superconductors).
The superconductivity exists only below
their critical temperature and below a
critical magnetic field strength.

Types II Superconductors
Starting in 1930 with lead-bismuth alloys,
were found which exhibited
superconductivity; they are called Type II
superconductors (Hard Superconductors).
They were found to have much higher critical
fields and therefore could carry much higher
current densities while remaining in the
superconducting state.

The Critical Field

An important characteristic of all
superconductors is that the
superconductivity is "quenched" when the
material is exposed to a sufficiently high
magnetic field.
This magnetic field, Bc, is called the critical
field.
Type II superconductors have two critical
fields.
The first is a low-intensity field, Bc1, which
partially suppresses the superconductivity.
The second is a much higher critical field,

The Critical Field

Researcher stated that the upper critical field
of yttrium-barium-copper-oxide is 14 Tesla at
liquid nitrogen temperature (77 degrees
Kelvin) and at least 60 Tesla at liquid helium
temperature.
The similar rare earth ceramic oxide, thuliumbarium-copper-oxide, was reported to have a
critical field of 36 Tesla at liquid nitrogen
temperature and 100 Tesla or greater at liquid
helium temperature.

BCS Theory of
Superconductivity
The properties of type I superconductors were
modeled by the efforts of John Bardeen, Leon
Cooper, and Robert Schrieffer in what is
commonly called the BCS theory.
A key conceptual element in this theory is the
pairing of electrons close to the Fermi level into
Cooper pairs through interaction with the crystal
lattice.
This pairing results from a slight attraction between
the electrons related to lattice vibrations; the
coupling to the lattice is called a phonon interaction.

BCS Theory of
Superconductivity
The electron pairs have a slightly lower energy
and leave an energy gap above them on the
order of .001 eV which inhibits the kind of
collision interactions which lead to ordinary
resistivity.
For temperatures such that the thermal energy is
less than the band gap, the material exhibits zero
resistivity.
Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer received the
Nobel Prize in 1972 for the development of the
theory of superconductivity.

JOSEPHSON EFFECT
JOSEPHSON EFFECT, the flow of electric current,
in the form of electron pairs (called Cooper pairs),
between two superconducting materials that are
separated by an extremely thin insulator.
A steady flow of current through the insulator can
be induced by a steady magnetic field.
The current flow is termed Josephson current, and
the penetration ("tunneling") of the insulator by the
Cooper pairs is known as the Josephson effect.
Named after the British physicist Brian D.
Josephson, who predicted its existence in 1962.

The Science.
The superconducting state is defined by three
very important factors: critical temperature (Tc),
critical field (Hc), and critical current density (Jc).
Each of these parameters is very dependant on
the other two properties present
critical temperature (T ) The highest temperature at
which superconductivity occurs in a material. Below this
transition temperature T the resistivity of the material is
equal to zero.
critical magnetic field (Hc ) Above this value of an
externally applied magnetic field a superconductor
becomes nonsuperconducting
critical current density (Jc) The maximum value of
electrical current per unit of cross-sectional area that a
superconductor can carry without resistance.

Flux-Pinning:
The phenomenon where a
magnet's lines of force (called
flux) become trapped or "pinned"
inside a superconducting
material. This pinning binds the
superconductor to the magnet at
a fixed distance.

The penetration depth

In the case where the dimension of the sample are much greater than , then
B 0 inside the sample. Then is constant, if varied the gradient term in (1.10)
would mean that the free energy increased. The constant value of is given from
equation (1.13):
2

0
T
1 .

Tc

(1.19)

Since the order parameter is constant, i.e. 2 0 , equation (1.14) becomes

2e 2
2
J
0 A .
m

(1.20)

Taking the curl of both sides of equation (1.20), and substituting for the vector potential
B A yields to

m
2

0 J .
2
2e

(1.21)

Equation (1.21) is identical to the second London equation (1.6) with a penetration depth
given by

m
2 0 e 0
2

(0)
1 T Tc

(1.22)

where (0) m 20 e 2 0 is the penetration depth at zero temperature. The above

equation, in contrast to the expression (1.8) of the London penetration depth, contains
2

the temperature dependent parameter, 0 , which is defined in terms of (T ) .

Superconductors A Brief
Introduction
Properties
DC electrical resistivity goes to zero at a low temperature.
(Called Tc: critical temperature)
A superconductor in a weak magnetic field will work like a
perfect diamagnet.
Meissner effect: magnetic flux present in superconductor is
ejected when superconductor cooled through Tc.
Superconductivity destroyed by strong enough magnetic
field, Hc.

Types of
Superconductors
Type I Superconductors (soft superconductors)
many types of pure materials have this
behavior
Zn, Cd, Hg, etc.
Hc is too low for applications in
superconducting magnets
Type II Superconductors
tend to be alloys
has a region that is a mixture of
superconducting and non-superconducting
states (vortex state)
Hard superconductors (large magnetic
hysteresis) MRIs

TBCO

Tl2Ca2Ba2Cu3O10
Ceramic cuprate superconductor
Tc=125 K (Beyers, R.) or 120K (Kittel)

(2223)
Three Cu perovskite-like units
separated by Tl-O bi-layers.
Tc seems to go up with number of
CuO2 layers.

TBCO nominal unit

cell

Source: R. Beyers, et. al.

Crystallography and
microstructure of Tl-Ca-BaCu-O superconducting oxides

Tl-O layer
Ba layer
CuO2 layer
Ca layer
CuO2 layer
Ca layer
CuO2 layer
Ba layer
Tl-O layer
Tl-O
layer

Body centered
(b.c.) tetragonal
cell
Lattice Parameters:
a = 3.822(4)
angstroms
c = 36.26(3)
angstroms
Note: c ~ 10
a
c
a

a
Source: R. Beyers, et. al.
Crystallography and microstructure of
Tl-Ca-Ba-Cu-O superconducting
oxides

Naming Scheme
2223

# of CuO2
planes within a
conducting
block.
# of layers
separating CuO2
planes.

# of spacing layers
between CuO2 blocks.

# of insulating layers
between conducting blocks.
(Tl-O layers)
Source:
www.superconductors.o
rg

Perovskite like
structure

Ba or
Ca

Oxygen

In TBCO this structure

is deformed to the
tetragonal structure
of the CuO2 units.

Copper
Source: J. Phillips.
Physics of High-Tc
Superconductors

Nobel Prize in Physics

1972
"for their jointly developed
theory of superconductivity,
called the BCS-theory
John Bardeen, Leon Neil Cooper, John Robert
Schrieffer

Coherence
length

Phonon

Cooper pair model

Creation of a C-Pairs diminishes

energy of electrons. Breaking a
pair (e.g. through interaction
with impurity site) means
increase of the energy.

A movement of the C-P when a

supercurrent is flowing, is
considered as a movement of a
centre of the mass of two
electrons creating C-P.

All the C-P are in the same quantum

state with the same energy. A
scattering by a lattice imperfection
(impurity) can not change quantum
state of all C-P at the same time
(collektive behaviour).

Phonon

Coherence length
Concentration
C-P
Superconduc
tor

SL
SC

(Xi)
I

SC
SL

x< GL

Coherence length is the

largest insulating distance
which can be tunneled by
Cooper-Pairs.

GL

Coherence length is the distance

between the carriers creating a
Cooper-Pair.
26

Nobel Prize in Physics 1973

"for his theoretical predictions of the
properties of a supercurrent through a
tunnel barrier, in particular those
phenomena which are generally known
as the Josephson effects".

Brian David Josephson

The superconducting tunnel

Josephson) junction
(superconductorinsulator
superconductor tunnel junction
(SIS) is an electronic device
consisting of two superconductors
separated by a very thin layer of
insulating material

Josephson discovered in 1963

tunnelling effect being 23years old PhD student

SL
SC

SL
SC

x< GL

Superconduc
tor

Eindringtiefe
Penetration
depth

Penetration depth

0
depicts the distance where
B(x) is e-time smaller than on the
surface

4 -0.5

(T)=0*(1-(T/TC) )

TC

Temperatur
Temperature

28

Superconductor type II in a magnetic field

Meissner
phase

Mixed
phase

Outside field Ba

Normal
conductor

Average inside field Bi

Magnetization 0M

Bi=Ba+ 0M

Outside field Ba

Vortex-lattice in
superconductor type II.
Magnetic flux of a vortex is
quantized:
0=h/2e2.0710-15Tm2

29

Magnetic induction B

Superconductor type II. B-T-Diagram

Normal state

Mixed phase
Meissner
phase

Temperature T

STM (Scanning Tunneling

Microscopy). Abrikosov-lattice
in NbSe2
H. Hess, R.B. Robinson, and J.V. Waszczak,
Physica B 169 (1991) 422
30