6.

763 Applied Superconductivity Lecture 1

Terry P. Orlando
Dept. of Electrical Engineering MIT September 4, 2003

Outline
What is a Superconductor? Discovery of Superconductivity Meissner Effect Type I Superconductors Type II Superconductors Theory of Superconductivity Tunneling and the Josephson Effect High-Temperature Supercondutors Applications of Superconductors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

What is a Superconductor?
A Superconductor has ZERO electrical resistance BELOW a certain critical temperature. Once set in motion, a persistent electric current will flow in the superconducting loop FOREVER without any power loss.

Magnetic Flux explusion A Superconductor EXCLUDES any magnetic fields that come near it.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

How Cool are Superconductors?

Below 77 Kelvin (-200 C): Some Copper Oxide Ceramics superconduct Below 4 Kelvin (-270 C): Some Pure Metals e.g. Lead, Mercury, Niobium superconduct Keeping at 0 C Keeping at 77 K Keeping at 4K

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Discovery of Superconductivity 1911

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1913
"for his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures which led, inter alia, to the production of liquid helium"

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes

the Netherlands Leiden University Leiden, the Netherlands b. 1853 d. 1926

http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates

Discovery of Superconductivity
As has been said, the experiment left no doubt that, as far as accuracy of measurement went, the resistance disappeared. At the same time, however, something unexpected occurred. The disappearance did not take place gradually but (compare Fig. 17) abruptly. From 1/500 the resistance at 4.2oK drop to a millionth part. At the lowest temperature, 1.5oK, it could be established that the resistance had become less than a thousand-millionth part of that at normal temperature. Thus the mercury at 4.2oK has entered a new state, which, owing to its particular electrical properties, can be called the state of superconductivity.
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Nobel Lecture
http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates

Resistance

Temperature

Normal Metal vs Superconductor

Residual resistance

Periodic Table of Elements

http://www.superconductors.org/Type1.htm

A Superconductor is more than a perfect conductor, it is a Perfect Diamagnetism

Perfect Conductor R=0 Perfect Diamagnet B=0

Meissener Effect

Type-I Superconductor

Type-II Superconductor

A current-carrying type II superconductor in the mixed state When a current is applied to a type II superconductor (blue rectangular box) in the mixed state, the magnetic vortices (blue cylinders) feel a force (Lorentz force) that pushes the vortices at right angles to the current flow. This movement dissipates energy and produces resistance [from D. J. Bishop et al., Scientific American, 48 (Feb. 1993)].

http://phys.kent.edu/pages/cep.htm

Upper Critical Fields of Type II Superconductors

BCS Theory of Superconductivity

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1972
for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory" ELECTRON-PHONON INTERACTIONS AND SUPERCONDUCTIVITY Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1972 By JOHN BARDEEN Departments of Physics and of Electrical Engineering University of Illinois Urbana, Illinois INTRODUCTION
Our present understanding of superconductivity has arisen from a close interplay of theory and experiment. It would have been very difficult to have arrived at the theory by purely deductive reasoning from the basic equations of quantum mechanics. Even if someone had done so, no one would have believed that such remarkable properties would really occur in nature. But, as you well know, that is not the way it happened, a great deal had been learned about the experimental properties of superconductors and phenomenological equations had been given to describe many aspects before the microscopic theory was developed.

John Bardeen
1/3 of the prize USA University of Illinois Urbana, IL, USA

Leon Neil Cooper

1/3 of the prize USA Brown University Providence, RI, USA b. 1930

John Robert Schrieffer

1/3 of the prize USA University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA b. 1931

b. 1908 d. 1991

http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates

The Electron-phonon Interaction

The origin of superconductivity in conventional superconductors

http://www.physics.carleton.ca/courses/75.364/mp-2html/node16.html

Cooper Pairs & Energy Gap

http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1972/cooper-lecture.pdf

Superconducting Energy Gap

http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1972/bardeen-lecture.pdf

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1973

"for his theoretical "for their experimental predictions of the discoveries regarding properties of a tunneling phenomena supercurrent through a in semiconductors and tunnel barrier, in particular those phenomena which superconductors, are generally known as the respectively" Josephson effects"

Leo Esaki
1/4 of the prize Japan IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center Yorktown Heights, NY, USA b. 1925

Ivar Giaever
1/4 of the prize USA General Electric Company Schenectady, NY, USA b. 1929 (in Bergen, Norway)

Brian David Josephson

1/2 of the prize United Kingdom University of Cambridge Cambridge, United Kingdom b. 1940

http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates

Tunneling between a normal metal and another normal metal or a superconductor

http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1973/giaever-lecture.pdf

Tunneling between two superconductors

Giaever Tunneling

Josephson Tunneling

Josephson Junction
Superconductor Nb
1 = n1ei
1

2 = n2 ei

Insulator ~10, Al2O3

Josephson relations:
I = I c sin 0 d V= 2 dt

Behaves as a nonlinear inductor:

V = LJ
where

dI , dt

0 LJ = 2 I c cos
0 = flux quantum 483.6 GHz / mV

= 2 1 2
0

A( r , t ) d l

SQUID Magnetometers
0
I+ V+

1pF

1.1m 1.1m

I20 m
DC SQUID Shunt capacitors ~ 1pF Jct. Size ~ 1.1m Loop size ~20x20m2 LSQUID ~ 50pH Ic~10 & 20A

V-

High-Temperature Superconductivity
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1987
"for

their important break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials"

J. Georg Bednorz
1/2 of the prize Federal Republic of Germany IBM Zurich Research Laboratory Rschlikon, Switzerland b. 1950

K. Alexander Mller
1/2 of the prize Switzerland IBM Zurich Research Laboratory Rschlikon, Switzerland b. 1927

http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates

High-Temperature Superconductors

http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1987/bednorz-muller-lecture.pdf

Perovskite Structure

http://cst-www.nrl.navy.mil/lattice/struk/perovskite.html

High-Temperature Superconductor

Uses for Superconductors

Magnetic Levitation allows trains to float on strong superconducting magnets (MAGLEV in Japan, 1997) To generate Huge Magnetic field e.g. for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) A SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device) is the most sensitive magnetometer. (sensitive to 100 billion times weaker than the Earths magnetic field) Quantum Computing
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Picture source: http://www.superconductors.org

Large-Scale Applications
Application
Power cables Current Limiters Transformers Motors/Generators Energy Storage Magnets NMR magnets (MRI) Cavities for Accelerators Magnetic bearins

Techinical Points
High current densities
Uses highly nonlinear nature of transition
High current densities and magentic fields, has lower losses

Smaller weight and size, lower losses Need high fields and currents Smaller weight and size, lower losses Ultra high field stability, large air gaps High microwave powers Low losses, self-controlled levitation

Adapted from http://www.conectus.org/xxroadmap.html

Phase Diagram of a Type II Superconductor

http://www.futurescience.com/manual/sc1000.html#C

Small-Scale Applications
Application
Microwave filters in celluar stations Passive microwave devices, Resonators for oscillators Far-infrared bolometers Microwave detectors

Techinical Points
Low losses, smaller size, sharp filtering Lower surface losses, high quality factors, small size
nonlinear tunneling SIS curves, high sensitivity Uses nonlinear tunneling SIS curves, high conversion efficiency for mixing

X-ray detectors
SQUID Magnetometers: Magneto-encephalography, NDT

High photon energy resolution Ultra-high sensitivity to magnetic fields Quantum precision Up to 750 GHz, ultra-fast, low-power
Adapted from http://www.conectus.org/xxroadmap.html

Voltage Standards Digital Circuits (SFQ)

Economic Outlook
$40 billion

http://www.superconductors.org/conectus.pdf

The Promise of a Quantum Computer

A Quantum Computer
Offers exponential improvement in speed and memory over existing computers Capable of reversible computation e.g. Can factorize a 250-digit number in seconds while an ordinary computer will take 800 000 years! Current Research in my group focuses on Quantum Computation using Superconductors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Magic of Quantum Mechanics

States 0 and 1 are stored and processed AT THE SAME TIME

Parallel Computation

Exponential Speedup to get Answers

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Superconducting Quantum Bit

An External Magnet can induce a current in a superconducting loop The induced current can be in the opposite direction if we carefully choose a different magnetic field this time To store and process information as a computer bit, we assign: as state | 0
clockwise
N S

N S

as state | 1
Anti-clockwise

Persistent Current Qubit

Depending on the direction of the current, state |0 and state |1 will add a different magnetic field to the external magnet This difference is very small but can be distinguished by the extremely sensitive SQUID sensor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Our Approach to Superconductivity

Macroscopic Quantum Model

s Cla

cal si

Superconductor as a perfect conductor & perfect diamagnet Macroscopic Quantum Model (r) Supercurrent Equation Js(r)

Type II Superconductivity
Large-Scale Applications

Josephson Equations
Small-Scale Applications

Ginzburg-Landau (r) = | (r)|2 e i(r,t)

Microscopic Quantum

BCS