Superconductivity

Superconductivity, phenomenon displayed by certain conductors that demonstrate no resistance to the flow of an electric current. Superconductors also exhibit strong diamagnetism; that is, they are repelled by magnetic fields. Superconductivity is manifested only below a certain critical temperature T_c and a critical magnetic field H_c, which vary with the material used. Before 1986, the highest known T_c was 23.2 K (-249.95° C/-417.9° F) in niobium-germanium compounds. Temperatures this low were achieved by use of liquid helium, an expensive, inefficient coolant. Ultra-low-temperature operation places a severe constraint on the overall efficiency of a superconducting machine. Large-scale operation of such machines was therefore not considered practical. But in 1986 discoveries at several universities and research centres began to alter this situation radically. Ceramic metal-oxide compounds containing rare earth elements were found to be superconductive at temperatures high enough to permit using liquid nitrogen as a coolant. Because liquid nitrogen, at 77K (-196° C/-321° F), cools 20 times more effectively than liquid helium and is one-tenth as expensive, a host of potential applications suddenly began to hold the promise of economic feasibility. In 1987 the composition of one of these superconducting compounds, with T_c of 94K (-179° C/-290° F), was revealed to be (Y_0.6 Ba_0.4)₂CuO₄. It has since been shown that rare earth elements are not an essential constituent, for in 1988 a thallium-barium-calcium copper oxide was discovered with a T_c of 125K (-148° C/-234° F). See also Cryogenics.

Superconductivity was first discovered in 1911 by the Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who observed no electrical resistance in mercury below 4.2 K (-269° C/-452° F). The phenomenon was better understood only after strong diamagnetism was detected in a superconductor by Karl W. Meissner and R. Ochsenfeld of Germany in 1933. The basic physics of superconductivity, however, was not understood until 1957, when the American physicists John Bardeen, Leon N. Cooper and John R. Schrieffer advanced the now celebrated BCS theory, for which the three were awarded the 1972 Nobel Prize for Physics. The theory describes superconductivity as a quantum phenomenon, in which the conduction electrons move in pairs and thus show no electrical resistance. In 1962 the British physicist Brian Josephson examined the quantum nature of superconductivity and proposed the existence of oscillations in the electric current flowing through two superconductors separated by a thin insulating layer in a magnetic or electric field. The effect, known as the Josephson effect, was subsequently confirmed by experiments.

Because of their lack of resistance, superconductors have been used to make electromagnets that generate large magnetic fields with no energy loss. Superconducting magnets have been used in studies of materials and in the construction of powerful particle accelerators. Using the quantum effects of superconductivity, devices have been developed that measure electric current, voltage, and magnetic field with unprecedented sensitivity.

The discovery of better superconducting compounds is a significant step towards a far wider spectrum of applications, including faster computers with larger storage capacities, nuclear fusion reactors in which ionized gas is confined by magnetic fields, magnetic suspension of high-speed (“Maglev”) trains, and, perhaps most important of all, more efficient generation and transmission of electric power. The 1987 Nobel Prize for Physics went to West German physicist J. Georg Bednorz and Swiss physicist K. Alex Mueller for their work on high-temperature superconductivity, and the 2003 Nobel Prize for Physics was jointly shared by Russians Alexei Abrikosov and Vitaly Ginzburg and UK-born Anthony Leggett for their pioneering theoretical work explaining both superconductivity and superfluidity.