J.D.

TYTLER SCHOOL

PHYSICS PROJECT

SUPERCONDUCTORS

Made by: DIPESH GUPTA: XII-C (Batch: 2022-

2023)

Under the Supervision and Guidance of

Mr. RP Singh

(Department of Physics)
 CERTIFICATION

This is to certify that DIPESH GUPTA of Class XII-C of

J.D. Tytler School has followed by the rules and
prepared the present Dissertation of the Topic:

“Superconductors”

This is being done for fulfillment of the required

senior secondary certificate.

Supervision: Director:

MR. RP Singh Mrs. Jennifer Tytler

(Department of physics)

Principal:
Miss Neena Andrews
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

➤I take the opportunity to express a deep

sense of gratitude and sincere regards towards
my physics teacher Mr. RP Singh for his active
guidance and valuable suggestions which
helped me to bring forth this project.

➤ I thank our Director and Mr. RP SINGH to

provide us the permission, equipment and
support to complete the project successfully.

➤ I am thankful to our Lab Assistant Mr.

AZMUL for his valuable support and aid
throughout the project.

DIPESH GUPTA XII-C (2022-2023)

S.N TOPIC PAGE
O NO.
1 CERTIFICATION 2
2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3
3 TITLE 5
4 SUPERCONDUCTIVITY 6
5 CLASSICAL ELEMENTAL 7
SUPERCONDUCTORS
6 EFFECT OF TRAPPED MAGNETIC FLUX 8
7 PHENOMENON OF
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY : ITS DISCOVERY
AND EVOLUTION
8 ERA OF HIGH TEMPERATURE 9-10
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
9 THE MEISSNERS EFFECT 11-13
10 TYPE 1 AND TYPE 2 SUPERCONDUCTORS 14
11 ROOM TEMPERATURE SUPER 15-16
CONDUCTIVITY
12 NOBLE PRIZE FOR SUPER CONDUCTIVITY 19
13 APPLICATIONS OF SUPER CONDUCTORS 20-21
14 BIBLIOGRAPHY 22
SUPERCONDUCTO
RS
 SUPERCONDUCTIVITY

The property of complete disappearance of electrical

resistance in solids when they are cooled below a
characteristic temperature is called
superconductivity. This temperature is called
transition temperature or critical temperature.
 Superconductive state of mercury (T=4.15 K) was
discovered by the Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh
Onnes in 1911, several years after the discovery of
liquid helium.

Classical Elemental Superconductors

ELEMENT TRANSITION
TEMPERATURE,K
ZINC 0.88

ALUMINIUM 1.20

INIDIUM 3.41

TIN 3.72

MERCURY 4.15

LEAD 7.19

➤Until 1983 record Tc =23.3K was that of Nb3Ge alloy

 Effect of Trapped Magnetic Flux

Consider a ring made out of superconductive Material.

Perform the following thought experiment:

1. At T>T, the material is normal state. When the

external magnetic field is turned on, it penetrates
through the ring.
 2. Reduce the Temperature so that T<T
3. The magnetic field.
4. You discover that the magnetic field that was
penetrating through the opening of the ring
magnetic field remains there. The magnetic flux
remains trapped in the ring opening.

Phenomenon of superconductivity: Its

discovery and evolution
The phenomenon of superconductivity was discovered in 1911
by the Dutch physicist H. Kamerlingh Onnes and his assistant
Gilles Holst in Leiden. They found that resistivity of mercury
suddenly drops to zero below 4.2 K, as shown. In Fig. 1.1. Gilles
Holst actually made this measurement [1]. However, his name
has become lost in the recesses of history, as is often the case
with junior researchers working under a famous scientist. A
year later, Kamerlingh Onnes and Holst discovered that a
sufficiently strong magnetic field restores the resistivity in the
sample as does a sufficiently strong electric current.

In two years after the discovery of superconductivity in

mercury, lead was found to superconductor at 7.2 K. In 1930,
superconductivity was discovered in niobium, occurring at 9.2
K. This is the highest transition temperature among all
elemental metals. In 1933, W. Meissner and R. Ochsenfeld
discovered in Berlin one of the most fundamental properties of
superconductors: perfect diamagnetism. They found that the
magnetic flux is expelled from the interior of the sample that is
cooled below its critical temperature in weak external magnetic
fields (see Fig. 2.2) Thus, they found that no applied magnetic
field is allowed inside á metal when it becomes
superconducting. This phenomenon is known today as the
Meissner effect. Dutch physicists C. J. Gorter and H. B. G.
Casimir introduced in 1934 a phenomenological theory of
superconductivity based on the assumption that, in the
superconducting state, there are two components of the
conducting electron “fluid”: “’normal” and “superconducting”
(hence the name given this theory, the two-fluid model). The
properties of “normal” electrons are identical to those of the
electron system in a normal metal, and the “superconducting”
electrons are responsible for the anomalous properties. In the
superconducting state, these two components exist side by side
as interpenetrating liquids. The two-fluid model proved a useful
concept for analysing, for example, the thermal and acoustic
properties of superconductors.

Era of High-Temperature Superconductivity

 The issue of room-temperature superconductivity was for

the first time seriously addressed in a paper written by W.
A. Little in 1964 [2]. He proposed a model in which a high
Tc is obtained due to a non-phonon mediated mechanism
of electron attraction, namely, an exciton model for
Cooper-pair formation in long organic molecules. Little’s
work revived the old dream of high Tc, and can be
 considered as the beginning of the search for high-
temperature superconductivity.
 Many new superconductors were discovered in the 1970s
and 1980s. For example, the first representatives of two
new classes of superconductors-heavy fermions and
organic superconductors were discovered in 1979. The
experimental data obtained in organic superconductors
and heavy fermions indicated that superconductivity in
these compounds was unconventional. Before the
discovery of superconductivity in copper oxides (cuprates),
the highest critical temperature 23.2 K was observed in
1973 in Nb3Ge. This type of superconductor is called an A-
15 compound.
 In 1986, trying to explain the superconductivity in heavy
fermions, K. Miyake, S. Schmitt-Rink and C. M. Varma
considered the mechanism of superconductivity based on
the exchange of antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations [4].
The calculations showed that the anisotropic even-parity
pairings are assisted, and the odd-parity as well as the
isotropic even-parity are impeded by antiferromagnetic
spin fluctuations.
 He real history of high-Tc superconductivity began in 1986
when Bednorz and Mu°°ller found evidence for
superconductivity at 30 K in La-Ba-Cu-O ceramics [5]. This
remarkable discovery has renewed the interest in
superconductive research. In 1987, the groups at the
Universities of Alabama and Houston under the direction
 of M. K. Wu and P. W. Chu, respectively, jointly announced
the discovery of the 93 K superconductor Y-Ba-Cu-O. Just a
year later-early in 1988-Bi-and TI-based superconducting
cuprates were discovered, having Tc = 110 and 125 K,
respectively. Finally, Hg-based cuprates with the highest
critical temperature Tc 135 K were discovered in 1993 (at
high pressure, Tc increases up to 164 K). Figure 1.2 shows
the superconducting critical temperature of several
cuprates as a function of the year of discovery, as well as
Tc of some metallic superconductors. All these cuprates
are hole-doped. One family of cuprates which was
discovered in 1989 is electrondoped: (Nd, Pr, Sm)-Ce-Cu-0
Their maximum critical temperature is comparatively low,
Tc,max 24 K.
 N 1986 the scientific world was astonished by the
discovery of high Tc superconductivity in copper oxides
because oxides are very bad conductors. The first reaction
of most scientists working in the field of superconductivity
was to think that there must be a new mechanism, since
phonon-mediated superconductivity is impossible at so
high a temperature. The discovery of superconducting
cuprates was followed by research growth at a rate
unprecedented in the history of science: during 1987 the
number of scientists working in the field of
superconductivity increased, at least, by one order of
magnitude. Data obtained in the cuprates, within a year
after the discovery of their ability to superconductor,
indeed showed that the characteristics of high-Tc
superconductors deviate from the predictions of the BCS
theory as do those of organic superconductors and heavy
fermions. For example, the BCS isotope effect is almost
absent in optimally doped cuprates. As a consequence,
this has prompted the exploration of non-phonon
electronic coupling mechanisms. Ph. Anderson was
probably the first to suggest theoretical model which did
not incorporate the phonon-electron interaction.
The Meissner effect
In 1933, Walter Meissner and Robert Ochsenfeld
discovered a magnetic phenomenon that showed that
superconductors are not just perfect conductors. Figure
illustrates a thought experiment that highlights this
difference. Imagine that both the ideal conductor and
superconductor are above their critical temperature, Tc.
That is, they both are in a normal conducting state and
have electrical resistance. A magnetic field, Ba, is then
applied. This results in the field penetrating both
materials. Both samples are then cooled so that the ideal
conductor now has zero resistance. It is found that the
superconductor expels the magnetic field from inside it,
while the ideal conductor maintains its interior field. Note
that energy is needed by the superconductor to expel the
magnetic field. This energy comes from the exothermic
superconducting transition. Switching off the field induces
currents in the ideal conductor that prevent changes in
thee magnetic field inside it by Lenz’s law. However, the
superconductor return to its initial state, i.e. no magnetic
field inside or outside it.

Type I and lI superconductors

High magnetic fields destroy superconductivity and restore

the normal conducting state. Depending on the character
of this transition, we may distinguish between type l and l
superconductors. It is found that the internal field is zero
(as expected from the Meissner effect) until a critical
magnetic field, Bc, is reached where a sudden transition to
the normal state occurs. This results in the penetration of
 the applied field into the interior. Superconductors that
undergo this abrupt transition to the normal state above a
critical magnetic field are known as type superconductors.
Most of the pure elements tend to be type
superconductors.

Type Il superconductors, on the other hand, respond differently

to an applied magnetic field. An increasing field from zero
results in two critical fields, Bc1 and Bc2. At Bc1 the applied
field begins to partially penetrate the interior of the
superconductor. However, the superconductivity is maintained
at this point. The superconductivity vanishes above the second,
much higher, critical field, Bc2. For applied fields between Bc1
and Bc2, the applied field is able to partially penetrate the
superconductor, so the Meissner effect is incomplete, allowing
the superconductor to tolerate very high magnetic fields.
Type lI superconductors are the most technologically useful
because the second critical field can be quite high, enabling
high field electromagnets to be made out of superconducting
wire. Most compounds shown in Figure 2 are type-ll
superconductors. Wires made from say niobium-tin (Nb3Sn)
have a Bc2 as high as 24.5 Tesla -in practice it is lower. This
makes them useful for applications requiring high magnetic
fields, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines.
The ad vantage of using superconducting electromagnets is that
the current only has to be applied once to the wires, which are
then formed a closed loop and allow the current (and field) to
persist indefinitely-as long as the superconductor stays below
the critical temperature. That is, the external power supply can
be switched off. As a comparison, the strongest permanent
magnets today may be able to produce a field close to 1 Tesla.
However, it is possible to obtain up to 24.5 Tesla from a
niobium-tin superconductor.
A room-temperature superconductor is a hypothetical material
that would be capable of exhibiting superconductivity at
operating temperatures above 0 °C (273.15 K). While this is not
strictly “room temperature”, which would be approximately 20-
25 °C, it is the temperature at which ice forms and can be
reached and easily maintained in an everyday environment.
The highest temperature known superconducting material is
highly pressurized hydrogen sulphide, the transition
temperature of which is 203 K (-70 °C), the highest accepted
superconducting critical temperature as of 2015. By
substituting a small part of sulphur with phosphorus and using
even higher pressures, it has been predicted that it may be
possible to raise the critical temperature to above 0 °C and
achieve room-temperature superconductivity. Previously the
record was held by the cuprates, which have demonstrated
superconductivity at atmospheric pressure at temperatures as
high as 138 K (-135 °C), and 164 K (-109 °C) under high pressure.
Claims of “near-room temperature” transient effects date from
the early 1950s and some suggest that in fact the breakthrough
might have been made more than once but could not be made
stable enough and/or reproducible as the relationship between
isotope number and Tc was not known at the time.
Finding a room temperature superconductor “would have
enormous technological importance and, for example, help to
solve the world’s energy problems, provide for faster
computers, allow for novel memory-storage devices, and
enable ultrasensitive sensors, among many other possibilities.”
Theoretical work by Neil Ashcroft predicted that solid metallic
hydrogen at extremely high pressure (-500 GPa) should become
superconducting at approximately room-temperature because
of its extremely high speed of sound and expected strong
coupling between the conduction electrons and the lattice
vibrations (phonons).[16] This prediction is yet to be
experimentally verified as yet the pressure to achieve metallic
hydrogen is not known but may be of the order of 500 GPa.
A team at Harvard has claimed to make metallic hydrogen and
reports a pressure of 495 GPa.[17] Though the exact critical
temperature has not yet been determined, weak signs of a
Meissner effect at 250K may have appeared in magnetometer
tests.
In 1964, William A. Little proposed the possibility of high
temperature superconductivity in organic polymers.[18] This
proposal is based on the exciton-mediated electron pairing, as
opposed to phonon-mediated pairing in BCS theory.

Nobel Prizes for superconductivity

 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1913), “for his investigations on
the properties of matter at low temperatures which led,
inter alia, to the production of liquid helium”
 John Bardeen, Leon N. Cooper, and J. Robert Schrieffer
(1972), “for their jointly developed theory of
superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory”
 Leo Esaki, lvar Giaever, and Brian D. Josephson (1973),
“for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling
 phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors,
respectively,” and “for his theoretical predictions of the
properties of a supercurrent through a tunnel barrier, in
particular those phenomena which are generally known as
the Josephson effects”.
 Georg Bednorz and K Alex Müller (1987), “for their
important breakthrough in the discovery of
superconductivity in ceramic materials”
 Alexei A 4prikosov, Vitaly L. Ginzburg, and Anthony J.
Leggett G03), “for pioneering contributions to the theory
of superconductors and superfluids”
 Michael Kosterlitz, Duncan Haldane. DavidJ. Thouless
(2016), “for theoretical discoveries of topological phase
transitions and topological phases of matter

Applications of superconductors
 The first large scale commercial application of
superconductivity was in magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI). This is a non-intrusive medical imaging technique
that creates a two
dimensional picture of
say tumours and other
abnormalities within
the body or brain. This
 requires a person to be placed inside a large and uniform
electromagnet with a high magnetic field. Although normal
electromagnets can be used for this purpose, because of
resistance they would dissipate a great deal of heat and
have large power requirements. Superconducting magnets
on the other hand have almost no power requirements
apart from operating the cooling.
 Superconductors can also be used to make a device known
as a superconducting
quantum interference
device (SQUID)This is in
credibly sensitive to small
magnetic fields so that it
can detect the magnetic
fields from the heart (10-
10 Tesla) and even the
brain High Temperature Superconductivity Earth’s
magnetic field is about 10-4 Tesla. Group (10-13 Tesla). For
comparison, the As a result, squids are used in
nonintrusive medical diagnostics on the brain.
 Levitating trains have been built that use powerful
electromagnets made from superconductors. The
superconducting electromagnets are mounted on the
train. Normal electromagnets, on a guideway beneath the
train, repel (or attract) the superconducting
electromagnets to levitate the train while pulling it
forwards.
 Bibliography

 www.youtube.com
 www.en.wikipedia.org

 www.g00gle.co.in