Superconductivity has become one of the most intensely studied physical phenomena of our times, with tremendous potential to revolutionize fields as diverse as computing and transportation. This book describes the methods, established results, and recent advances in the field. The goal is to present recently developed theoretical models in light of the long-sought aim of achieving the effect at very high temperatures. The book includes a detailed review of various mechanisms, including phononic, magnetic, and electronic models. The authors focus on the phenomenon of induced superconductivity in the high-temperature oxides, particularly the high-transition-temperature cuprates. They also discuss a variety of low-temperature superconducting systems in conventional materials and organics. The book links the crucial experiments with the most current theories, offering a unified description of the phenomenon. All researchers (and graduate-level) students involved with work in superconductivity will find this an invaluable resource, including solid-state and condensed-matter physicists and chemists, and materials scientists.

Since the discovery by Bednorz and Müller of Cu-O alloys displaying high temperature superconductivity, great energy has been put into research in this field. One of the most important and interesting issues, and the subject of this volume, is the clarification of the microscopic origin and mechanism of high temperature superconductivity. This book discusses the latest experimental results on magnetic, optical, electrical, thermal and mechanical properties of the Cu-O and Bi-O superconductors, as well as proposed theoretical models of the mechanisms. The participants in the symposium agreed that for the high Tc Cu-O superconductors electron correlation effects are of central importance. For the Bi-O superconductors the main topic was whether the mechanism of superconductivity is the same as that of high Tc Cu-O superconductors. What was and what was not resolved at the symposium is summarized at the end of the volume.

This book presents the current knowledge about superconductivity in high Tc cuprate superconductors. There is a large scientific interest and great potential for technological applications. The book discusses all the aspects related to all families of cuprate superconductors discovered so far. Beginning with the phenomenon of superconductivity, the book covers: the structure of cuprate HTSCs, critical currents, flux pinning, synthesis of HTSCs, proximity effect and SQUIDs, possible applications of high Tc superconductors and theories of superconductivity. Though a high Tc theory is still awaited, this book describes the present scenario and BCS and RVB theories. The second edition was significantly extended by including film-substrate lattice matching and buffer layer considerations in thin film HTSCs, brick-wall microstructure in the epitaxial films, electronic structure of the CuO2 layer in cuprates, s-wave and d-wave coupling in HTSCs and possible scenarios of theories of high Tc superconductivity.

Despite ten years of intensive research, many questions remain unanswered concerning the nature of the electronic structure (Fermi vs non-Fermi liquid) and mechanisms of superconductivity. Spectroscopy of High-Tc Superconductors, A Theoretical View provides a current, comprehensive review of the experimental results and theoretical interpre

In the past two years conferences on superconductivity have been characterized by the attendance of hundreds of scientists. Consequently, the organizers were forced to schedule numerous parallel sessions and poster presentations with an almost unsurveyable amount of information. It was, therefore, felt that a more informal get-together, providing ample time for a thourough discussion of some topics of current interest in high-temperature superconductivity, was timely and benefitial for leading scientists as well as for newcomers in the field. The present volume contains the majority of papers presented at the International Discussion Meeting on High-Tc Superconductors held at the Mauterndorf Castle in the Austrian Alps from February 7 to 11, 1988. Each subject was introduced in review form by a few invited speakers and then discussed together with the contributed poster presentations. These discussion sessions chaired by selected scientists turned out to be the highlights of the meeting, not only because all the participants truly appreciated the possibility of an information exchange, but mainly because of the magnificent job done by the discussion chairmen, John A. Mydosh (Leiden), Martin Peter (Geneva) and Ken E. Gray (Argonne). First results on the just discovered Bi-superconductors and the clarification of electron resonance experiments on (123)-compounds should be mentioned in particular. The relaxed atomosphere favoring free discussions was certainly promoted by the surroundings offered in the Mauterndorf Castle, which dates back to 1253. Poster presentations and a conference banquet in historic knight's halls are certainly not found everyday in conference routines.

The search for microscopic models to explain the many superconducting substances has introduced seminal concepts and techniques in many-body physics and in statistical mechanics. The complexity of the high-temperature superconductors has required a remarkable refinement of experimental techniques in order to allow a reliable characterization of the samples, and is partly the reason why so many different microscopic models have so far been proposed. This Enrico Fermi Course on Superconductivity was provided an up-to date presentation of selected experimental and theoretical theories on the (so called) conventional superconductivity and on the high temperature superconductivity. The attention was focused on those reliable measurements which are expected to provide the theory with key constraints, viz: Raman and Infrared Spectroscopy, Nuclear Spin Resonance, Angular Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy, transport measurements, Josephson effect. The lectures devoted to the overview of the BCS theory and to the discussion of minimal models and of the crossover from BCS to Bose-Einstein condensation may be particularly useful. The remaining part of the program was shared between phonon and non-phonon based mechanisms. On the one hand, special emphasis has been devoted to the breakdown of the Migdal theorem and to polaronic theories. On the other, the book contains an overview of strongly correlated electron theories, including magnetic interactions. A survey of the physics of vortices completes the theoretical part of the lectures.

For emerging energy saving technologies superconducting materials with superior performance are needed. Such materials can be developed by manipulating the "elementary building blocks" through nanostructuring. For superconductivity the "elementary blocks" are Cooper pair and fluxon (vortex). This book presents new ways how to modify superconductivity and vortex matter through nanostructuring and the use of nanoscale magnetic templates. The basic nano-effects, vortex and vortex-antivortex patterns, vortex dynamics, Josephson phenomena, critical currents, and interplay between superconductivity and ferromagnetism at the nanoscale are discussed. Potential applications of nanostructured superconductors are also presented in the book.

“The Frontiers of Knowhledge (to coin a phrase) are always on the move. - day’s discovery will tomorrow be part of the mental furniture of every research worker. By the end of next week it will be in every course of graduate lectures. Within the month there will be a clamour to have it in the undergraduate c- riculum. Next year, I do believe, it will seem so commonplace that it may be assumed to be known by every schoolboy. “The process of advancing the line of settlements, and cultivating and c- ilizing the new territory, takes place in stages. The original papers are p- lished, to the delight of their authors, and to the critical eyes of their readers. Review articles then provide crude sketch plans, elementary guides through the forests of the literature. Then come the monographs, exact surveys, mapping out the ground that has been won, adjusting claims for priority, putting each fact or theory into its place” (J. M. Ziman, Principles of the Theory of Solids (Cambridge University Press, 1972) p.v). The main purpose of the book is to present the mechanism of - perconductivity discovered in 1986 by J. G. Bednorz and K. A. Müller, and to discuss the physics of superconductors. The last chapter of the book presents analysis of tunneling measurements in cuprates. The book is - dressed to researchers and graduate students in all branches of exact sciences.

This volume contains the proceedings of the University of Miami Workshop on the subject of "Electronic Structure and Mechanisms for High Temperature Super conductivity". The workshop was held at the James L. Knight Physics Building on the campus of the University of Miami, Coral Gables, 3-9 January 1991. Some 106 scientists from 12 countries attended this workshop, most of whom presented either invited or contributed papers. The reader will find in this volume a series of papers discussing the most im portant experimental and theoretical developments as of winter/spring 1990/1991. Despite more than four years of intensive research on high-T materials, there has c been considerable controversy both with respect to the interpretation of experiment and even more so in connection with the construction of an appropriate theory. In this regard, workshops such as this, gathering scientists with many viewpoints, and varying specialization, and fostering constructive discussions, are important in the de velopment of a common ground. Of major concern in the present context were the basic physical processes involved in high-temperature superconductivity.

Annotation The first book dealing with the subject of room-temperature conductivity.