Superconductivity

• Superconductivity is defined as the complete disappearance of

electrical resistance in various solids when they are cooled below a
characteristic temperature. This temperature, called the transition
temperature, varies for different materials but generally is below
20 K (−253 °C). Such type of solid is called Superconductor.
• Discovery-Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 by the Dutch
physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes; he was awarded the Nobel
Prize for Physics in 1913 for his low-temperature research.
Kamerlingh Onnes found that the electrical resistivity of
a mercury wire disappears suddenly when it is cooled below a
temperature of about 4 K (−269 °C); absolute zero is 0 K, the
temperature at which all matter loses its disorder. He soon
discovered that a superconducting material can be returned to the
normal (i.e., nonsuperconducting) state either by passing a
sufficiently large current through it or by applying a sufficiently
strong magnetic field to it.
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 TYPES OF SUPERCONDUCTORS

• Type I or soft superconductors

• Type II or Hard Superconductors

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 Type I or soft superconductors
• These are usually made of pure metal.
• When it is cooled below its critical temperature it exhibits
zero resistivity and displays perfect diamagnetism.
• This means that the magnetic fields cannot penetrate it while
it is in the superconducting state.
• They strictly obey Meissner Effect.
• These are called soft superconductors because they give away
their nature at very low field strength.
• They do not have any useful technical applications.
• Example: Pure specimens of Al,Pb,Hg,Indium etc.

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 Type II or Hard Superconductors
• These superconductors are usually alloys or transition metals
with high values of electrical resistivity.
• Their diamagnetism is more complex.
• They have two critical magnetic fields Hc1 and Hc2.
• These allow the magnetic field to penetrate it.
• Thus they do not obey Meissner effect.
• These are called Hard superconductors because relatively
large fields are required to bring them back to normal state.
• These are used for strong field superconducting metals and
hence are technically more useful than soft superconductors.
• These can carry large currents.
• Example: transition metals and alloys consisting of niobium,
Al,Si and vanadium etc.

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Diagrams

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APPLICATIONS OF SUPERCONDUCTORS
• Used in cables :For electric power transmission without any
loss.
• For Producing very strong magnetic fields of about 20-30 tesla
which are used in power generators and in medical diagnostic
equipments.
• To fabricate high field magnets used in NMR spectrometers.
• Magnetic energy can be stored in large superconductors to
counter voltage fluctuations.
• They are used to perform logic and storage functions in
computers.
• These are used to produce electromagnetic shields.

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APPLICATIONS OF SUPERCONDUCTORS
• Used in the fabrication of small IC chips of electronic devices
and computers.
• Used as magnetic separators in ore refining.
• Superconducting film can be used as phonon detector or
nuclear radiation detector.
• In magnetic levitation trains.

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