Lecture Note

EEE 3515
Electrical Properties of Materials
Stanza 8
Superconductivity

1|Page Lecture Note/EEE 3515/Electrical Properties of Material/Stanza 8

Dr. Shamimul Haque Choudhury, Associate Professor, EEE, IIUC
 Super conductivity
Q What is superconductor or superconductivity?

In 1911 Kamerlingh Onnes at the University of Leiden in Holland observed that when a sample of
mercury is cooled to below 4.2 K, its resistivity totally
vanishes and the material behaves as a superconductor,
exhibiting no resistance to current flow. That temperature is
called critical temperature Tc that depends on the material.

Q Do all the high conductive materials show

superconductivity? Why?

On the other hand, there are also many conductors, including

some with the highest conductivities such as silver, gold, and
copper that do not exhibit superconductivity. The resistivity
of these normal conductors at low temperatures is limited
by scattering from impurities and crystal defects and
saturates at a finite value determined by the residual resistivity. The two distinctly different types of
behavior are depicted in Figure.

Examples
Nb3Ge 23K

High-Tc superconductors

La–Ba–Cu–O 35 K

2|Page Lecture Note/EEE 3515/Electrical Properties of Material/Stanza 8

Dr. Shamimul Haque Choudhury, Associate Professor, EEE, IIUC
 Y–Ba–Cu–O 95 K

Hg–Ba–Ca–Cu–O 130 K (−143 °C)

Superconductors behavior under critical temperature

Q What is Meissner effect? Explain the behavior of a superconductor under certain critical
temperature. How the magnetic field cancelled by the superconductor below Tc?

Meissner effect: A superconductor below its critical temperature expels all the magnetic field from the
bulk of the sample as if it were a perfectly diamagnetic substance. This phenomenon is known as the
Meissner effect. We can explain this behavior by a simple experiment.

If we place a superconducting material in a magnetic field above Tc. The magnetic field lines will
penetrate the sample, as we expect for any low μr medium. However, when the superconductor is cooled
below Tc, it rejects all the magnetic flux in the sample, as depicted in Figure.
The superconductor develops a magnetization M by developing surface currents, such that M and
the applied field cancel everywhere inside the sample. µoM is in the opposite direction to the
applied field and equal to it in magnitude.
Thus, below Tc a superconductor is a perfectly diamagnetic substance ( χm = −1).

This should be contrasted with the

behavior of a perfect conductor,
which only exhibits infinite
conductivity, or ρ = 0, below Tc.
If we place a perfect conductor in
a magnetic field and then cool it
below Tc, the magnetic field is not
rejected. These two types of
behavior are identified in Figure.
What happens when the applied field is
stopped for a superconductor and
conductor under critical temperature?

Again if we switch off the field,

the field around the superconductor
simply disappears. But switching
off the field means there is a
decreasing applied field. This
change in the field induces currents
in the perfect conductor by virtue of Faraday’s law of induction. These currents generate a magnetic field
that opposes the change(Lenz’s law), in other words, they generate a magnetic field along the same
direction as the applied field to reinforce the decreasing field. As the current can be sustained (p=0)
without joule dissipation, it keeps on flowing and maintaining the magnetic field.

3|Page Lecture Note/EEE 3515/Electrical Properties of Material/Stanza 8

Dr. Shamimul Haque Choudhury, Associate Professor, EEE, IIUC
How and why levitation of a magnet above
the surface of a superconductor happens?

The photograph showing the levitation of a magnet

above the surface of a superconductor (Fig) at temperature
less than critical temperature Tc, is the direct result of the
Meissner effect: the exclusion of the magnet’s magnetic
fields from the interior of the superconductor. On the
other hand, the temperature greater than Tc, the material
does not show diamagnetic behavior. And therefore, the
magnet remains on the surface of the material without
levitation.
Fig. A superconductor above Tc does
not levitate however below Tc it
behaves like perfect diamagnetic
material and thus the magnet levitate

Explain the superconductor behavior with respect to the critical temperature and critical field.
The superconductivity below the critical temperature has been observed to disappear in the presence of
an applied magnetic field exceeding a critical value
denoted by Bc. This critical field depends on the
temperature and is a characteristic of the material. The
Figure shows the dependence of the critical field on the
temperature for Lead, Mercury, and Tin. The critical
field is maximum, Bc(0), when T = 0 K As long as the
applied field is below Bc at that temperature, the material
is in the superconducting state, but when the field
exceeds Bc, the material reverts to the normal state. We
know that in the superconducting state, the applied
magnetic field lines are expelled from the sample and Fig. Critical field vs critical temperature
the phenomenon is called the Meissner effect. curve for superconductors

What happens to the applied field to a superconductor under critical temperature and critical field?

The external field, in fact, does penetrate the sample from the surface into the bulk, but the magnitude
of this penetrating field decreases exponentially from the surface. If the field at the surface of the
sample is Bo, then at a distance x from the surface, the field is given by an exponential decay,

…………………….(1)

Where, λ is a “characteristic length” of penetration, called the penetration depth, and depends on the
temperature and Tc (or the material). At the critical temperature, the penetration length is infinite and any

4|Page Lecture Note/EEE 3515/Electrical Properties of Material/Stanza 8

Dr. Shamimul Haque Choudhury, Associate Professor, EEE, IIUC
 magnetic field can penetrate the sample and destroy the superconducting state. Near absolute zero of
temperature, however typical penetration depths are 10–100 nm.

Classification of Superconductor
Superconductors are classified into two types, called Type I and Type II, based on their diamagnetic
properties.

Explain the characteristics of Type I superconductor using suitable characteristics curve.

Type I Superconductor:

In Type I superconductors, as the applied magnetic field B increases, the opposing magnetization M
also increases accordingly until the field reaches the critical field Bc, whereupon the superconductivity
disappears. At that point, the perfect diamagnetic behavior, the Meissner effect, is lost, as illustrated in
Figure. A Type I superconductor below Bc is in the Meissner state, where it excludes all the magnetic
flux from the interior of the sample. Above Bc it is in the normal state, where the magnetic flux
penetrates the sample and the conductivity is finite.

Q. Explain the characteristics of Type II superconductor using suitable characteristics curve.

Q. Explain the normal, superconduting and mixed state of a Type II superconductor using suitable
diagram.
Q. Explain the curve that represents the temperature dependence of Bc1 and Bc2 for a Type II
material.

Type II Superconductor:

In the case of Type II superconductors, the transition does

not occur sharply from the Meissner state to the normal
state but goes through an intermediate phase in which the
applied field is able to pierce (penetrate) through certain
local regions of the sample. As the magnetic field
increases, initially the sample behaves as a perfect
diamagnet exhibiting the Meissner effect and rejecting all
the magnetic flux. When the applied field increases beyond a
critical field denoted as Bc1, the lower critical field, the
magnetic flux lines are no longer totally expelled from
the sample. The overall magnetization M in the sample
opposes the field, but its magnitude does not cancel the

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Dr. Shamimul Haque Choudhury, Associate Professor, EEE, IIUC
 field everywhere. As the field increases, M gets smaller and more flux lines pierce through the
sample until at Bc2, the upper critical field, all field lines penetrate the sample and
superconductivity disappears. This behavior is shown in Figure a, and c. Type II superconductors
therefore have two critical fields Bc1 and Bc2.
When the applied field is between Bc1 and Bc2, the field lines pierce through the sample through tubular
local regions, as pictured in Figure b. The sample develops local small cylindrical (filamentary)
regions of normal state in a matrix of superconducting state and the magnetic flux lines go
through these filaments of local normal state, as shown in
Figure b. The state between Bc1 and Bc2 is called the mixed
state (or vortex state) because there are two states—normal
and superconducting— mixed in the same sample. Each
filament is a vortex of flux lines (hence the name vortex state).
The sample overall has infinite conductivity due to the
superconducting regions. Figure c shows the dependence of
Bc1 and Bc2 on the temperature and identifies the regions of
Meissner, mixed, and normal states.

Q. Why all engineering application of superconductor

invariably use Type II material?

All engineering applications of superconductors invariably use Type II materials because Bc2 is
typically much greater than Bc found in Type I materials and, furthermore, the critical
temperatures of Type II materials are higher than those of Type I. Many superconductors, including
the recent high-Tc superconductors, are of Type II.

Q. What is critical current density of a superconductor? Explain the dependence of applied field,
temperature and current density on the superconducting properties of a material using suitable
example.
Q. Why superconductivity disappears when the current exceeds a critical value?
Q. Why critical current density is important for engineering applications?
CRITICAL CURRENT DENSITY

Another important characteristic feature of the superconducting state is that when the current
density through the sample exceeds a critical value Jc, it is found that superconductivity
disappears. This is not surprising since the current through the superconductor will itself generate a
magnetic field and at sufficiently high current densities, the magnetic field at the surface of the sample
will exceed the critical field and extinguish superconductivity. This possible direct relation between Bc
and Jc is only true for Type I superconductors, whereas in
Type II superconductors, Jc depends in a complicated way
on the interaction between the current and the flux
vortices. New high-Tc superconductors have exceedingly
high critical fields, that do not seem to necessarily
translate to high critical current densities. For example,
in Y–Ba–Cu–O, Jc may be greater than 107 A cm−2 in some
carefully prepared thin films and single crystals but around

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Dr. Shamimul Haque Choudhury, Associate Professor, EEE, IIUC
 103–106 A cm−2 in some of the polycrystalline bulk material (e.g., sintered bulk samples). In Nb3Sn, used
in supercon- ducting solenoid magnets, on the other hand, Jc is close to 107 A cm−2 at near 0 K.

The critical current density is important in engineering because it limits the total current that can be
passed through a superconducting wire or a device. The limits of superconductivity are therefore
defined by the critical temperature Tc, critical magnetic field Bc (or Bc2), and critical current density Jc.
These constitute a surface in a three-dimensional plot, as shown in Figure 8.64, which separates the
superconducting state from the normal state. Any operating point (T1, B1, J1) inside this surface is in
the superconducting state.

7|Page Lecture Note/EEE 3515/Electrical Properties of Material/Stanza 8

Dr. Shamimul Haque Choudhury, Associate Professor, EEE, IIUC