Description:
| Aims: The aim of this unit is to explain the basic properties of superconductivity, and illustrate contemporary applications of related phenomena.
Learning Outcomes: After taking this unit the student should be able to:
* describe the basic properties of superconductors;
* apply fundamental knowledge of superconductors to applications of superconductivity in technology and the research laboratory;
* make quantitative estimates of the parameters that govern superconductivity.
Skills: Numeracy T/F A, Problem Solving T/F A.
Content: Basic phenomenology; critical temperature, zero resistance, critical magnetic field, Meissner effect, penetration depth, coherence length. Two fluid model. Ginsburg-Landau theory. Microscopic theory; Cooper pairs, electron phonon interaction, isotope effect, BCS model and the energy gap. Type I and type II superconductors, vortex states and critical currents. Applications of type II materials. Tunnelling in superconductors; the Josephson effect, SQUIDS. High Tc superconductivity. Other non-conventional superconductors.
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