EXPERIMENTAL HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTIVITY

Theory
Introduction – occurrence of superconductivity – destruction of superconductivity – Persistent current - Meissner effect – Thermodynamics of superconducting transitions – Type I and type II superconductors - origin of energy gap – Isotope effect – London equations – penetration depth – coherence length. Elements of BCS theory – Cooper pair - Flux quantization – Tunneling - Josephson effect – SQUID.

                                                                           15 hrs

High temperature superconducting oxides – Structures of La-Ba-Cu-O system, Y-Ba-Cu-O system and Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O system. Experimental techniques – sample preparation methods – solid state reaction – stoichiometry – X- ray diffraction methods – analysis of X-ray diffractogram – Four-probe method of resistance measurement - determination of Tc – Susceptibility measurement - Tc measurement by Colpitt’s oscillator method.                      

15 hrs

Recommended Reading
1. M.A.Wahab – Solid State Physics -Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi 1999.
2. C. Kittel - Introduction to Solid State Physics -VI Ed. – Wiley eastern 2005

Practicals
1. Resistivity measurement by four probe method.
2. Preparation of Y1Ba2Cu3O7-x superconductor by solid state reaction method.
3. Tc measurement by four probe / Colpitt’s oscillator method (using liquid nitrogen cryostat).
4. X-ray diffractogram analysis (calculation of cell parameters) 30 hrs

Fees: Rs. 1000/-