Superconductivity (Revised Edition)

"What is superconductivity? How was it discovered? What are the properties of superconductors, how are they applied now, and how are they likely to become widely used in the near future? These are just some of the questions which this important book sets out to answer. Starting with the discovery of superconductivity over ninety years ago, the book guides the readers through the many years of subsequent exploration, right up to the latest sensational findings.Written in a lively, nontechnical style, this book makes ideal background reading for any school or college level study of superconductivity. The authors, who are leading authorities in the field, paint detailed pictures of the phenomena involved without mathematical formalism, appealing instead to physical intuition." Superconductivity......Page 4 Contents......Page 10 To the Reader......Page 6 Preface to the Revised Edition......Page 8 The Beginning......Page 14 Resistance......Page 16 Critical Temperature......Page 18 Low Temperatures......Page 20 The Meissner Effect......Page 22 Magnetic Field......Page 23 Currents and Fields in Superconductors......Page 24 Some Facts from History......Page 27 How to verify that the Resistance of a Superconductor is actually Zero?......Page 32 Phase Transition......Page 33 Specific Heat......Page 36 Two Types of Electrons......Page 38 How a Superconducting Transition proceeds in a Magnetic Field......Page 40 Critical Current......Page 42 Penetration Depth of a Magnetic Field in Superconductor......Page 43 The Influence of the Superconductor Shape on Magnetic Field Penetration and Superconducting Transition......Page 46 The Intermediate State......Page 47 Type II Superconductors......Page 49 Vortices......Page 51 Vortex Motion......Page 54 Capture of Magnetic Flux......Page 56 Influence of a Crystal Lattice......Page 57 Phonons......Page 59 Quantum Mechanics......Page 62 Quantum Billiards......Page 63 The Energy Scale......Page 65 Collective Phenomena......Page 67 Superfluidity......Page 68 The Atom and Quantum States......Page 69 Quantum Liquids......Page 71 Electron-Phonon Interaction......Page 73 Formation of Electron Pairs......Page 74 Boundary of a Superconductor......Page 75 Two Basic Properties of Superconductors......Page 77 Applications of Superconductivity: Tempting but Difficult......Page 80 Magnets......Page 81 Superconducting Wires......Page 83 Applications of Superconducting Magnets......Page 85 Josephson Effects......Page 89 An Application of Weak Superconductivity — SQUIDs......Page 92 Disturbers of Tranquility......Page 96 Avalanche......Page 97 What Feeds the Superconducting Boom?......Page 99 "The Level of Noise"......Page 100 Prospects for Superconductivity......Page 101 References......Page 104 What is superconductivity? How was it discovered? What are the properties of superconductors, how are they applied now, and how are they likely to become widely used in the near future? These are just some of the questions which this important book sets out to answer. Starting with the discovery of superconductivity over ninety years ago, the book guides the readers through the many years of subsequent exploration, right up to the latest sensational findings. Written in a lively, nontechnical style, this book makes ideal background reading for any school or college level study of superconductivity. The authors, who are leading authorities in the field, paint detailed pictures of the phenomena involved without mathematical formalism, appealing instead to physical intuition. In 1911 a Dutch physicist, H. Kamerlingh-Onnes, discovered the phenomenon of superconductivity.