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Lecture - Superfluidity

The document provides an overview of a course on superconductivity and quantum coherence. It includes acknowledgements, lecture details, literature references, an outline of topics covered in the course, and background on the timeline and examples of superconductors. The key concepts that will be covered include the Ginzburg-Landau theory, Bose-Einstein condensation, superfluidity, Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer theory, and unconventional superconductivity in advanced materials.

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Kenion Assunção
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223 views

Lecture - Superfluidity

The document provides an overview of a course on superconductivity and quantum coherence. It includes acknowledgements, lecture details, literature references, an outline of topics covered in the course, and background on the timeline and examples of superconductors. The key concepts that will be covered include the Ginzburg-Landau theory, Bose-Einstein condensation, superfluidity, Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer theory, and unconventional superconductivity in advanced materials.

Uploaded by

Kenion Assunção
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Superconductivity and

Quantum Coherence
Gil Lonzarich Lent Term 2012
Acknowledgements: Christoph Bergemann,
John Waldram, David Khmelnitskii,
and, importantly, former students

12 Lectures: Wednesday & Friday 11-12 am, Mott Seminar Room

Three Supervisions, each with one examples sheet

Questions and suggestions are welcome


Complete versions will be made available on the course web site:
www-qm.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching.php
1

Superconductivity, once called one of the best understood


many-body phenomenon in physics, became again 100 years
after its discovery a problem full of questions, mysteries and
challenges.
X.-G. Wen, MIT
Quantum Field Theory of Many Body Systems,
Oxford University Press, 2009

Literature:
JF Annett: Superconductivity, Superfluids and
Condensates
JR Waldram: Superconductivity of Metals
and Cuprates
AJ Leggett: Quantum Liquids Bose Condensation &
Cooper Pairing in Condensed-Matter Systems
R Feynman: Lectures on Physics Volume III
A Altland & B Simons: Condensed Matter Field Theory
CJ Pethick & H Smith: Bose-Einstein Condensation
in Dilute Gases
M Tinkham: Introduction to Superconductivity
VV Schmidt: The Physics of Superconductors
GE Volovik: The Universe in a Helium Droplet
3

Outline:
Ginzburg-Landau (GL) Theory of the
Superconducting State
Applications of Superconductivity
Bose-Einstein Condensates
Superfluidity in 4He

Phenomenological
GL Theory

Quantum Coherence and BardeenCooper-Schrieffer (BCS) Theory

Microscopic
BCS Theory

Unconventional Superconductivity
in Advanced Materials

New
Developments

Lecture 1:
Historical overview
Macroscopic manifestation of superconductivity: ,
, C/T
Meissner effect and levitation
Type-I and type-II superconductivity
Superconductivity as an ordered state
introduction to the Ginzburg-Landau theory
Literature: Waldram ch. 4
(or equivalent chapters in Annett, Leggett,
Schmidt, or Tinkham)

Timeline:
1898-1908

Liquefaction of H2 & 4He - the crucial steps


Dewar & Onnes

1911

Superconductivity in mercury

1925

Prediction of Bose-Einstein condensation

1927-38
1933

Superfluidity in 4He
Meissner effect

1950
1952-57

Ginzburg-Landau theory
Superconducting vortices

1957

BCS & Bogoliubov theory

1962-64

Josephson effect and SQUIDs

1971

Superfluidity in 3He

1970s-now

Unconventional superconductors, including


high temperature superconductors

1990s-now

Cold atomic gases, Topological phases,


6

Examples of Superconductors
Hg

first superconductor

Nb

highest Tc amongst the elements

9.3 K

NbTi

superconducting magnets to ~ 9 T

10 K

Nb3Sn

superconducting magnets to ~ 20 T

24.5 K

MgB2

high-Tc s-wave superconductor

39 K

CeCu2Si2
Cs3C60
Iron Pnictides
Copper Oxides
Sr2RuO4
UGe2

Tc =

4.1 K

Unconventional spin-singlet
superconductors on border of
Mott transitions and/or
antiferromagnetism

0.5 K
up to ~40 K
up to ~60 K
up to ~160 K

spin-triplet superconductors on
the border of ferromagnetism

0.5-1.5 K

many additional important examples exist


7

www.webelements.com - examples sheet

Superconducting elements:

Basic experimental facts:


The resistivity of a superconductor drops to zero below some
transition temperature Tc
Immediate corollary: cant change the magnetic field inside a
superconductor

#B
= ! curl % " ! $ curl J = 0, since $ = 0
#t

B=0

B
Switch on external B:

zero field cooled


9

What if we cool a superconductor in a magnetic field and then


switch the field off do we get something like a permanent
magnet?

B
Experimentally, this does not work
even when field cooled, the
superconductor expels the field!
field cooled

This is known as the Meissner effect.


Superconductivity arises through a
thermodynamic phase transition (state
depends only on final conditions, e.g., T
and B).
field cooled
10

The Meissner effect leads to the stunning


levitation effects that underlie many of the
proposed technological applications of
superconductivity (see examples sheet).
The superconducting state is destroyed
above a critical field Hc
Ideal magnetisation curve
Hc1

Hc

Hc2

and so-called type-II superconductivity


(which well discuss later)
B
NB: These curves apply for a
magnetic field along a long rod.
11

The electronic specific heat around the superconducting


transition temperature Tc:

exponential low-T
behaviour indicative of
energy gap
(explained by BCS)
power-law behaviour at
low-T in unconventional
superconductors
(to be discussed later)

exponential in simple
superconductors

matching areas means entropy is continuous at Tc: consistent


with second order phase transition

12

From the form of C/T we find that the entropy S vs. temperature
has the following form:
S
superconducting
state
normal state

T
Tc
The superconducting state has lower entropy than the normal
state and is therefore the more ordered state. A general theory
based on just a few reasonable assumptions about the order
parameter is remarkably powerful. It describes not just
conventional superconductors but also the high-Tc
superconductors, superfluids, and Bose-Einstein condensates.
This is known as Ginzburg-Landau theory.
13

Free energy near a second order


phase transition:
For a second order phase transition, the order parameter
vanishes continuously at Tc. In the conventional description,
known as the Landau model, one assumes that sufficiently close
to Tc the free energy density relative to that of the normal state
can be expanded in a Taylor series in the order parameter,

f (" ) = #" 2 + " 4


!
2

(! > 0)

This assumes that the order parameter is real and that the free
energy density is an even function of the order parameter.
Where is the free energy minimum?

14

> 0

< 0

The phase transition takes place at (Tc) = 0. Thus, a power


series expansion of (T ) around Tc may be expected to have
the following leading form:

" = a(T ! Tc )

Picture credits: A. J. Schofield

Free energy curves:

(a > 0)

This is consistent, in particular, with a specific heat jump that


characterizes most superconductors (examples sheet).
15

This is appropriate, e.g., for ferromagnetism where in the


uniform magnetization along a given axis. In the Ginzburg-Landau
(GL) theory, however, is assumed to be complex rather than real
as is the case for a macroscopic wave function. We will see how a
complex order parameter arises naturally from a microscopic
theory. The assumptions in the GL theory are:
can be complex-valued

"2 # " ,

"4 # "

can vary in space but this carries an energy penalty


proportional to
2

!!
"

Crucially, couples to the electromagnetic field in the same


way as for an ordinary wavefunction (Feynman III, ch. 21)

" # " ! iqA / h


Here, A is the magnetic vector potential and q is the relevant
charge, which is found to be q = 2e.
16

This provides the first clue that superconductivity has got


something to do with electron pairs.
A final part in the free energy is the relevant magnetic field
energy density BM2/20, where BM=B-BE is due to currents in the
superconductor and BE is due to external sources. (Note that
when the material is introduced the total field energy density
changes from BE2/20 to B2/20, but the part BMBE/0 is taken up
by the external sources (Waldram, Ch.6)).
So finally we arrive at the Ginzburg-Landau free energy density:

$ 4 1
1
f ="# + # +
( %ih& + 2eA )# 2+
( B % BE )2
2
2m
2o
2

We have written the free energy so that the gradient term


involve an effective mass m = 2me , which is consistent with
! q = 2e. This represents an effective field theory unifying
matter field & gauge field A (recall B=curlA) in the static limit.
17

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