Submitted To- Presented By-

Resp. Talib Sir Abhishek Agarwal (14EI01)

Shobhit Saxena (14EI50)
 CONTENT
INTRODUCTION OF SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
DISCOVERY OF SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE OF RESISTIVITY
MEISSNER EFFECT
PERSISTENT CURRENT
TYPE - I AND TYPE- II SUPERCONDUCTOR
COOPER PAIR
BCS THEORY
APPLICATIONS OF SUPERCONDUTORS
INTRODUCTION OF SUPERCONDUCTIVITY

The Phenomena of complete and sudden

disappearence of electrical resistance
observed in certain metallic elements ,
compounds , ceremics at temperature close to
absolute zero is known as
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY.

The materials which hold this property are

called superconductors.

The temperature at or below which a

substance becomes superconducting is called
Trasition temperature(Tc) or critical
temperature.
1911: DISCOVERY OF SUPERCONDUCTIVITY

Discovered by Kamerlingh Onnes

in 1911 during first low temperature
measurements to liquefy helium
Whilst measuring the resistivity of
pure Hg he noticed that the electrical
resistance dropped to zero at 4.2K
In 1912 he found that the resistive state
is restored in a magnetic field or at high
transport currents
1913
 TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE OF RESISTIVITY

The Electrical resistivity of a

material decreases as the
temperature is reduced.
When temperature is lowered ,
the thermal vibrations of atoms
decreases and the conduction
electrons are less frequently
scattered .
The decrease of resistance is
linear down to a temperature
equal to one-third of the
characteristics debye temperature
of the material.
 THE MEISSNER EFFECT
superconductors push out magnetic fields

T > Tc T < Tc - and keep them out

with constantly- flowing
resistance-less currents

this diamagnetic property is more fundamental than zero resistance

 PERSISTANT CURRENT

N S supercurrent can also flow

currents flow in loops under the poles around a ring

B
superconducting plate

N S

-and repel the magnet as if

there were an image magnet giving a magnetic field B
underneath: N to N and S to S! that never dies away
 TYPES OF SUPERCONDUCTOR

Type I
Exhibits perfect diamagnetism below
transition temperature Tc and has only one
critical magnetic field Bc.
Type II
Totally expels and excludes magnetic flux
below lower critical field Bc1 and partially
does so between Bc1 and upper critical field
Bc2; all superconductors except elements
are Type II. This type has a larger Tc than
that of a Type I superconductor.
 COOPER PAIRS
Cooper pairs can tunnel together through the insulating layer of Josephson Junction.

This process is identical to that of quantum barrier

penetration in quantum mechanics.

Because of the superconducting nature (no

resistance) and the fact that Cooper pairs
can jointly tunnel through an insulator we can
maintain a quantum current through the Josephson Junction without an applied voltage

A changing magnetic field induces a current to flow in a ring of metal, this effect
can be used to detect flux quanta. Radio Astronomy uses these devices frequently.

Thus a Josephson Junction can be used as a very sensitive voltage, current or

flux detector.
 BCS THEORY

John Bardeen, Leon Cooper and Bob Schrieffer

B. C. S.
Nobel Prize 1972 for their theory of 1957 which
explained conventional superconductors: nearly 50
years after their discovery by Kamerlingh Onnes!
APPLICATIONS OF SUPERCONDUCTIVITY