Superconductivity of Metals and Cuprates [Hardcover]

Superconductivity of Metals and Cuprates covers the basic physics of superconductivity, both the theoretical and experimental aspects. The book concentrates on important facts and ideas, including Ginzburg-Landau equations, boundary energy, Green's function methods, and spectroscopy. Avoiding lengthy or difficult presentations of theory, it is written in a clear and lucid style with many useful, informative diagrams. The book is designed to be accessible to senior undergraduate students, making it a helpful tool for teaching superconductivity as well as serving as an introduction to those entering the field.^IIntroduction: The discovery and occurrence of superconductivity. Plan of the book. ^IThe superfluid: The pair wavefunction [ ]. The superfluid velocity and density. Absence of resistance. Magnetic fields, use of vector potential and guage covariance. The london equations, penetration depth. The London guage. Flux quantisation. Absence of thermoelectric effects. ^IThe phase transition: Phase diagram in the B-T plane. { }F, { }S and { }C in zero field. Magnetic energies, Meissner effect. The critical field Bc (T). ^IGinzburg-Landau theory: The Ginzburg-Landau free energy density. The Ginzburg-Landau equations and boundary conditions. Penetration depth, coherence length and [ ]. Boundary energy. Flux vortices. ^IType I and Type II superconductors: Type I superconductors, the intermediate state. Landau's branching model, critical currents. Type II superconductors. Bc1, the flux lattice. Bc@ and Bc#. Flux pinning and flux flow. Critical currents and the peak effect. Critical currents and type II behaviour of thin films. ^IIntroduction to microscopic theory: Description using second quantisation. The attractive interaction. The BCS ground state. The BCS weak coupling model. Single particle excitations and theirproperties, [ ](T). Meaning of [ ] and the superfluid in BCS, [ ](T). Other properties understandable in terms of BCS theory. Gap anisotropy and strong couplinl+