SUPER

CONDUCTORS
AND SUPER
CONDUCTIVITY
BY
VISHAL D
OUTLINE
• Definition of Superconductivity and Superconductors

• Discovery

• Critical temperature

• Classification of Superconductors

• BCS Theory

• Nobel prize for Superconductivity

DEFINITION OF SUPERCONDUCTIVITY

 Superconductivity is a phenomenon occurring in certain materials generally at very

low temperatures , characterized by exactly zero electrical resistance and the
exclusion of the interior magnetic field .

 The materials which exhibit the property of superconductivity at very low

temperatures are called super conductors.

Examples: Mercury, lead, tin, aluminum, certain alloys etc., 

DISCOVERY

 Superconductivity was discovered on April 8, 1911

by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes who was studying the
resistance of solid mercury at cryogenic
temperatures .

 At the temperature of 4.2 K, he observed that

the resistance abruptly disappeared.

 In the same experiment, he also observed the

superfluid transition of helium at 2.2 K
CRITICAL TEMPERATURE

 The temperature at which electrical resistance

is zero is called the Critical temperature (Tc
).

 The cooling of the material can be achieved

using liquid nitrogen or liquid helium for
even more lower temperature.
CLASSIFICATION OF SUPERCONDUCTORS
Type I
 Response to a magnetic field Type II
Type-1.5.

 By theory of operation BCS theory

high-temperature
 By critical temperature
Low temperature

 By material
BCS THEORY

 This theory was developed by Bardeen,

Cooper and Schrieffer.

 This theory states that the electron

experience special kind of interaction,
overcoming the coulomb forces oF
repulsion between them, as a result Cooper
pairs.

 For this work, the authors were awarded the

Nobel Prize in 1972.
COOPER PAIRS
 A Cooper pair is the name given to electrons
that are bound together in a certain manner
first described by Leon Cooper .

 Cooper pairs are formed by an attractive

force between electrons from the exchange of
phonon.

 The energy of phonon is usually less than

0.1eV
NOBEL PRIZE FOR SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1913), "for his investigations on the
properties of matter at low temperatures ".

 John Bardeen, Leon N. Cooper, and J. Robert Schrieffer (1972),

"for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually
called the BCS-theory".

 Leo Esaki and Brian D. Josephson (1973), "for their experimental

discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and
superconductors, respectively"

 Georg Bednorz and K. Alex Müller (1987), "for their important

break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic
materials".
THANK YOU