High Tc Superconductors

in Magnetic Fields
T. P. Devereaux

Kamerlingh Onnes, 1913

Nobel Prize for Discovery of
Superconductivity in Mercury

Theory of Superconductivity by
Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer
Earns Nobel Prize in 1972
Most successful many-body theory.

Quantum Coherent State

paired electrons condense into
coherent state -> no resistance.
perfect diamagnetism electrons
circulate to screen magnetic field
(Meissner effect).

High Tc Superconductors
Discovered in 1986, Nobel Prize
for Bednorz and Mller in 1987

Critical Current On the

Rise

New Superconductor
Developments
Fullerenes: Tc engineered to
117K.
Iron becomes a superconductor
under pressure.
Plastic superconductor:
polythiophene.
DNA can be made
superconducting.
MgB2 changes our thinking
(again).

Large Scale
Applications
Top speed: 552 km/hr

US Navy: 5,000 HP*

In-place in Detroit.*

*American Superconductor Corp.

Small Scale Devices?

Transistors (RSFQ peta-flop
supercomputer)?
Filters?
Nano-scale motors and devices?
Superconducting DNA?
Quantum computers!?
OBSTACLES:
cooling.
architecture.
ever-present magnetic fields

destroy coherence.

Small Devices?
Magnetic Fields!
Resistance
reappears!

<- Resistivity
of Pure
Copper
H. Safar et al (1993)

Problem: Vortices!
Electrons swirl in magnetic field increased
kinetic energy kills superconductivity.
SOLUTION: Magnetic field kills superconductivity
in isolated places -> VORTICES (swirling
normal electrons)

Direct Vortex Imaging Using

Scanning Tunneling
Microscope

Animation: Increasing
Magnetic Field

Apply current: Lorentz force causes

vortices to move -> Resistance!

Solution: Defects to Pin

Vortices

Krusin-Elbaum et al (1996).
Critical current enhanced by orders of
magnitude over virgin material.
Splayed defects better than straight ones.
Optimal splaying angle ~ 5 degrees.

Animation: Pinning
Moving Vortices

Problems to Overcome
1) High TC
Elastic string under
tension F:
u2= kBTy(L-y)/FL
~ kBT/F

2) Planar Structure
pancake vortices in
layers weakly coupled
Decreased string
tension -> vortex
decoupling

String is floppier at
higher T -> vortex
liquid

Molecular Dynamics
Simulations
Widely used for a variety of
problems:
- protein folding, weather
simulation, cosmology, chaos,
avalanches, marine pollution,
other non-equilibrium
phenomena.
Solves equations of motion for
each particle.
Large scale simulations on pcs
and supercomputers (parallel).

Molecular Dynamics
Simulations for Vortices

Vortices = elastic strings under tension.

Vortices strongly interact (repel each other).
Temperature treated as Langevin noise.
Solve equations of motion for each vortex.
Calculate current versus applied Lorentz force, find
what type of disorder gives maximum critical
current.

Abrikosov Lattice Melting - >

Vortex Liquid
At low T,
lattice forms
with defects.

At higher T,
lattice melts.

Pinning
At low T, a few
pins can stop
whole lattice.

At larger T,
pieces of
lattice shear
away.

Pinning at low fields

Columns of
defects are
effective at
pinning vortices.

But channels of
vortex flow
proliferate at larger
fields.

Depinning <-> vortex

avalanche

Splayed defects effective at

cutting off channels of vortex
flow

But too much splaying and vortices

cannot accommodate to defects.

Resistivity is smaller for

splayed defects

Optimal angle for splaying

Acknowledgement & Future

Work
All simulations performed by Dr. C.
M. Palmer.
Complex vortex dynamics.
Future work to investigate

Melting phenomena.
Oscillatory motion of driven vortices.
Onset of avalanches.
Behavior as a qubit (quantum
computing).
Behavior of other dual systems
(polymers, DNA,).