Basic Aspects of Superconductivity

By-
Poonam Kumari
Guide: Prof. S. Ramakrishnan
TIFR, Mumbai
 Conductors
 Reasons for resistance.
1. Lattice vibration
2. Impurities
 Superconductivity
 Kamarlingh-Onnes in 1911- found…
resistance of Hg goes to zero below 4K.

 Meissner later found out- the phenomenon is

accompanied by diamagnetism.
 Basic Properties
 Zero resistance.

 Expulsion of magnetic field - Meissner-

Oschenfeld Effect.

 Critical fields- Hc1 and Hc2.

 Specific heat jump at Tc

How close to Zero is the Resistance ?
 Measured by decay time of persistent current
i

V=0, and integrate

 Quinn and Ittner* -

L=4x10-13 Henry, B decays 2% in 7hours.
R=4x10-25 Ωm. *J. Appl. Phys. 33, 748 (1962)

 File and Mills**-

measured field for 2.5 years
R~10-29 Ωm. **File and R.G.Mills, Phys. Rev. Lett. 10, 93 (1963)
 Meissner-Oschenfeld Effect
 Magnetic field when applied, is expelled out-
Meissner-Oschenfeld Effect.

 Can be distinguished from ‘perfect’ conductor

 Critical fields
 There is a limit (Hc )beyond which field penetrates,
material becomes normal- Type I

 In other at Hc field doesn’t penetrate the entire

sample (Hc1)- Type II

 Here superconductivity is destroyed at higher field

Hc2.

 Between Hc1 and Hc2 –

Mixed state.
Type I Type II
 Specific Heat
 Normal state to Superconducting state is a
second order phase transition.
 Discontinuity in the heat capacity at Tc.
 Difference in free-energy density-

 Entropy density-
 And heat capacity-

Rutger’s formula
 Some well known
superconducting materials
 Elements: Niobium(Nb)-Tc~ 9K

 Alloys:
1. Nb-Ti (Tc~10 K for magnetic fields up to 9T)
2. Nb3Sn (Tc~18 K for magnetic fields up to 20 T)

 High Tc superconductors: oxide materials Tc > 77

K (liquid N2boiling point)
1. YBa2Cu3O7 -Tc ~ 90 K
2. HgBa2Ca2Cu3O9 - Tc (~135 K)
 London’s Theory
 Theoretical understanding of the expulsion of field
from a superconductor.
 Superelectrons and normal electrons.
 Free energy in presence of B:

 Thus
 Minimizing F w.r.t B and defining

Gives relation between

Solution in 1-D
current density and vector
potential
Pippard’s Non-Local Theory
 Pippard noticed from experimental results that
is affected by impurity.

 Gave a non-local generalisation of the London’s

equation.

 Analogous to Chamber’s non-local generalisation

of Ohm’s Law, introducing coherence length.
 Coherence length
 Coherence length( ) is a measure of the
distance within which the concentration
of superelectron doesn’t change in a
spatially varying magnetic field.

 Depends on impurity
For impurity
 Ginzburg-Landau Theory
 The theory for Normal-Superconductor- second
order phase transition
 Free energy:
 Order parameter-
normal state
superconducting state
 Free energy in presence of B
 Minimizing free energy w.r.t ψ and B

Temperature dependent coherence length

Temperature dependent penetration depth

Ginzburg-Landau parameter

Relation between Hc1 and Hc2

 My two experiments on Nb

1. Measurement of Tc at 100 Oe.

2. Finding Hc1 and Hc2.

 Sample: Niobium sphere.

 Mass: 49 mg
 Diameter: 0.28 cm
 Vibrating Sample Magnetometer
 Sample vibrates in a uniform magnetic field.

 Flux change due to the moving sample develops

induction voltage across the pick-up coils which is
proportional to the magnetization of the sample
 Finding Tc
 Tc= 9.2 K at 100 Oe.
 Hc1 and Hc2
 Hc2 >Hc1
Variation of Hc1 and Hc2 with T
 Both Hc1 and Hc2 decreases with
temperature.
 References
 Introduction to Superconductivity by A.C.
Rose-Innes.

 Type II Superconductivity by D. Saint-

James and D. Sarma.