PH6609: Fundamentals and Applications of Superconductivity

Course Information

L-T-P-C3-0-0-3
Prerequisites PH5009

Syllabus

Module 1: Basic aspects of superconductivity

Lecture hours: 12 · Tutorial hours: 0 · Lab hours: 0

Zero resistance state and Meissner effect, Experimental signatures in electrical transport, magnetic, and thermodynamic measurements, London equations; penetration depth, critical magnetic field, and critical current, Type I and type II superconductors, Applications of Type II superconductors; superconducting magnets .

Module 2: Phenomenological and microscopic theory of superconductivity

Lecture hours: 12 · Tutorial hours: 0 · Lab hours: 0

Phenomenological model: Ginzburg-Landau theory, flux quantisation, Microscopic theory: isotope effect, BCS theory of superconductivity, Cooper pairs, electron-phonon interaction, BCS predictions for critical temperature, energy gap, and critical field, Temperature dependence of properties: heat capacity, thermal conductivity .

Module 3: Josephson effect and superconducting devices

Lecture hours: 9 · Tutorial hours: 0 · Lab hours: 0

Supercurrent tunnelling, phase of the macroscopic wave function, DC and AC Josephson effect, Applications of the Josephson effect: SQUID magnetometer, basic superconducting quantum circuits, superconducting qubit .

Module 4: Unconventional superconductivity

Lecture hours: 9 · Tutorial hours: 0 · Lab hours: 0

Pairing mechanisms, symmetry of the order parameter, Material classes: heavy-fermion, cuprate, iron-based, and organic superconductors, Applications of high-Tc superconductors .

Study Materials

Textbooks

  1. Superconductivity, Charles P. Poole, Horacio A. Farach, Richard J. Creswick, Ruslan Prozorov, Elsevier, 2nd Edition (2010), ISBN: 9780080550480
  2. Superconductivity: Fundamentals and Applications, Werner Buckel and Reinhold Kleiner, WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 2nd Edition (2004), ISBN: 9783527403493
  3. Introduction to Superconductivity, Michael Tinkham, Dover Publications, 2nd Edition (2004), ISBN: 9780486435039

References

  1. Superconductivity, Superfluids, and Condensates, James F. Annett, Oxford University Press, Oxford Series in Condensed Matter Physics (2004), ISBN: 9780198507567