Solid State Physics II 42.1. Classification of Superconductors 49.3. Xray Diffraction: Laue Equations 42.2 Effective Mass of an Electron in a Crystal 42.1 Classification of Superconductors The superconductors can be classified into two distinct groups according to their behaviour in ternal magnetic field. | Type-I Superconductors The superconductors, in which the magnetic field is totally excluded from the interior of rconductors below a certain magnetising field H,, and at H,, the material loses superconductiv- and the magnetic field penetrates fully are termed as type 1 or soft superconductors. Examples ; Tin, Lead, Aluminium, Mercury, Zinc, Magnesium ete. The magnetization curve type I super-conducting materials is shown in Fig. 42.1. Ho ——» Applied field (H) Fig. 42.41 Superconductors.578 MODERN PHYSi¢g acteristics of type T supereonductors are: ‘The important ch (i) They exhibit complete Meissner effect. (ii) The critical values of magnetic field H, at which magnetisation drops are Very TOW, Th maximum known critical field for type I superconductor is of the order of 0.1 T. The low value g makes these materials unsuitable for use in high field superconducting magnets. , ‘The magnetisation curve shows that transition at He is reversible, This means t netic field is reduced below Hg, the material again acquires superconducting property: expelled. (iii) Below Hg the mat is superconductor and above He it becomes a 2. Type I (or hard) Superconductors The superconductors in which the material losey magnetisation gradually rather than suddenly are termed as type II or hard superconductors. The magnetisation curve for these supercon- | ductors is shown in Fig, 42.2. ‘The important characteristics are : () They do not show complete Meissner effect. (ii) These superconductors have two critical fields: H,, (the lower critical field) and H, (the up- ; per critical field). The specimen is diamagnetic below Ho, ie., the magnetic field is comp excluded below H,,. At He, the flux begins to penetrate the specimen, and. the peneuation. increases until the upper critical field H, is reached. At H,, the magnetisation vanishes returns to normal conducting state, The value of His greater than H... The value of eriti type II materials may be 100 times or more higher than the value of H, for type I Critical fields H,, upto 30 T have been observed. The materials which display type II behaviour are essentially in! Nb-Zr, Nb-Ti alloys and Va-Ga and Nb-Sn inter-metallic compounds. These are t useful than type I superconductors due to tolerating high magnetic fields. 42.2 Effective Mass of an Electron in a Crystal _ Consider an isolated electron of mass m and charge — ¢ in an electric field E on itis —eE, If the acceleration produced in the electron is a, then — Ee = ma, An el exert some force on an electron in a crystal. Hence by Newton's second law of m ‘ma =— eE + force due to neighbouring ions and electrons. — __ The latter force is not known quantitatively. We overcome this d our ignorance to the left hand side of the equation by writing m*a=—eE, Here m* is called the effective mass of the electron in the crystal. 42.3 X-ray Diffraction: Laue Equations ewguPERCONDUCTIVITY 1 as igh-T,, Superconductivity A large number of possible practical applic jasnot been achieved On ACcoUnt ofthe limit BETH re sperconductivity through refrigeration © iP al efforts have been made by researc My data are displayed in Table 44,1. TABLE 44.1 High-T; Sapercondidiory Material T. 1, Cu-O Perovskite-type 30 oie K 2, Laj4s Stays CuO, 3 3, Layg Sto CuO, re 4. (Yo4 Bros) Cu, BP 5, YBa, Cu, 0, ae 6. Granular Y — Ba —Cu—o aaa 7, Lanthanum compounds 300 este The detailed mechanism for superconductivity in the high-T, materials is not at present known precisely. A number of arguments have been aivanced to explain high T... For example, it has been realised that the role of oxygen is essential for high T, oxide superconductors. The occurrence of a strong electronic band in the infrared Spectrum and its correlation with superconductivity provides evidence that the Superconductivity of YBa, Cu, O,_ | materials is Mediated by an excitonic Mechanism. Pauling has ‘rdeayoured to support the ae. Anderson's esoralie valence bond theory of superconductivity in compounds such 0—Cu (S: Ba, Y, La ‘ ity is increased by the resonance along the La), CuO, , : the conductivity isi 1 nce elang the les of atoms, and superconductiviy is probably achieved through interaction with a phonon, A pellet of Superconductor with High Critical Temperature. “46 Applications ot There are many applications of superconductivity. \y application: \ __ ( One is in the construction of superconducting see ae ae satecless currents and, therefore, produce large magnetic felts tie twee *onducting wire for magnet windings, currents of the onda 0 aa E ‘ fine Wires. ‘Thus small-size magnets can be constructed, The principl594 44.6, in which (4K). Starting from zero, field B reaches the desired value, At The current now flows through the swit tumed off. The current will continue to nitely without resistive losses. (ii) Superconducting cables can be u power over long distances without resistive Switching Devices. i a superconducting coil is immersed in Jiquid helium the current is increased until the magnetic that point the switch § is closed. ch, The power supply is then flow through the coil indefi- sed to transmit electric losses. This is possible only if the cost of keeping the cable below its critical temperature is less than the value of the power Jost using ordinary cables. (iii) Superconductors are used for amplifying very small direct currents and voltages. (iv) Superconductors are employed in switching devices. = (vy) Because superconductors are diamagnetic, they can be used to shield out unwanted magnetic flux, as in shaping. netic lens system of an electron microscope oak Maa Seis rn effect. Show that the supercurrent of superconducting Explain de Josephsor Sisk junction depends on the phase difference. uss ac Josephson effect. Show that the current oscillates with frequency o= 2e Discuss Josephson effect. Give formulation of ac Josephson effect. E is effect can estimate e/h. Give the principle of SQUID. What is the frequency of the electromagnetic waves radiated by @ voltage of 650 pV across its terminals ?Super- conductivity II 45.3 Microwave and Infrared Absorptions 45.1 London Equation 4.2 Energy Gap .1 London Equation Electrical conduction in the normal state of a metal is described by Ohm’s law j = GE. We ify this to describe conduction and the Meissner effect in the superconducting state. We ume that in the superconducting state the current density is directly proportional to the vector tial A of the local magnetic field. Here, B = curl A. The constant of proportionality is A/jiy A}. Thus 1 j a aaa @) Ho Ai Here, 2, is a constant with the dimensions of length. This is the London equation. Taking the curl of both sides, we get 1 curlj=--—;B =) Hot Now, consider the Maxwell equation curl B=H1o5 --@) Taking curl, we obtain 2 curl curl B= Hy curl j (4) Now, curl curl B= grad div B- V°B curl curl B=- VB (sdivB=0) 6) On combining Eqs. (4) and (5). — VB eu, curl j SapWY E,(1)/E, (0) —» Using London Eq. (2), we get 1 -vipey 3") | Ho Ai V7 B= B/A;, Here, A, is called the London penetration depth. fe For a superconductor to the right of the plane x= 0, Eq. (6) has the soln B(x) =B (0) exp(-x/,), Here, B (0) is the field at the plane boundary. The penetration depth A, is defined as the distance, t in which the field decreases by the factor e~!. Eq. (7) indicates that B does not penetrate very deeply into a superconductor. Therefore, it implies the Meissner effect. ‘A magnetic field external to the superconductor de- cays exponentially as it penetrates the superconductor (Fig. 45.1). The decay constant is called the penetration depth ,. The vacuum-superconducting interface is at x=0. Eq. (7) agrees well with the experimental observations that the magnetic field does not drop to zero abruptly at the sur- face but decays inside the superconductor in a characteristic distance 2, , called London penetration depth. Thos the flux vanishes in the imtesior ductor. The values of 2, found experimentally range from 30 nm to 500 nm. 45.2 Energy Gap Experiments have shown that in superconductors, for temperatures in the vicinity of absolute zero, a for- bidden energy gap just above the Fermi level is observed. Figure 45.2 (a) shows the conduction band in the normal state. Fig. 45.2 (b) depicts an energy gap equal to 2E, at the Fermi ve, level in the super- of conduct- 06 0.4 02 02 04 06 08 19 Te —> Fig. 45.3