Superconducting State Mechanisms and Materials

This book provides the reader with a detailed theoretical treatment of the key mechanisms of superconductivity, up to the current state of the art (phonons, magnons, plasmons). In addition, the book describes the properties of key superconducting compounds that are of most interest for science and its applications today. For many years there has been a search for new materials with higher values of the main parameters, such as the critical temperature and the critical current. At present, the possibility to observe superconductivity at room temperature has become perfectly realistic. The book is especially concerned with high Tc systems, such as the high Tc oxides, hydrides with record values of the critical temperature under high pressure, nanoclusters, etc. A number of interesting novel superconducting systems have been discovered recently. Among them: topological materials, interface systems, intercalated graphene. The book contains rigorous derivations, based on statistical mechanics and many-body theory. The book is also providing qualitative explanations of the main concepts and results, which makes it accessible and interesting for a broader readership.

1 - Introduction
2 - Mechanisms
3 - Properties : spectroscopy
4 - Experimental methods
5 - Cuprate superconductors
6 - Inhomogeneous superconductivity and the “pseudogap” state of novel superconductors
7 - Materials (II)
8 - Materials (III)
9 - Manganites
10 - Superconducting state in nature

Vladimir Kresin graduated from Moscow Pedagogical University. Later he studied at the Landau School of Theoretical Physics. He received his PhD and D. Sci. degrees performing studies in the field in superconductivity. He was a professor of theoretical physics at the Moscow Pedagogical University. Since 1980 he is Principal Investigator at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley. Vladimir Kresin published 4 monographs and about 220 articles, mainly in the field of superconductivity. He was a Chairman (or Program committee Chairman) of 9 International Conferences on Superconductivity, and edited 5 books. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism. Sergei Ovchinnikov graduated from Krasnoyarsk State University. He received a PhD in Physics at the Kirensky Institute of Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Science, specializing in magnetism and superconductivity. He has worked at the Kirensky Institute of Physics since 1972 where he is head of the department of magnetic phenomena. He is currently a Director of Research in Magnetism at the Kirensky Institute and the head of the Theoretical Physics at the Siberian Federal University in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. He was co-author of three books, edited 2 conference proceedings and published over 450 articles in peer reviewed journals on various aspects of magnetism and superconductivity. He is a Co-Editor of the International Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism. Stuart Wolf graduated from Columbia College with AB in Physics and from Rutgers University where he received a PhD in Physics specializing in superconductivity. He was a scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory for over thirty years where he headed up all of the superconductivity work. He was starting the field of inhomogeneous superconductivity, holding the first international conference on this topic in 1978. He is Professor of Physics and Materials Science at the University of Virginia. He has co-authored two books, edited 8 conference proceedings and published over 250 articles in peer reviewed journals , all on various aspects of superconductivity. He was a founding editor and Co-Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism.