High Temperature Superconductivity

Physicists have recently turned their attention to a new family of oxide compounds whose superconducting transition temperatures are unusually high. Some already superconduct at temperatures above that of liquid nitrogen, and still higher values are expected. This progress has made a room-temperature superconductor, a notion that until recently sounded fanciful, look like a realistic possibility for materials research.

The volume grew out of a graduate course that Jeffrey W. Lynn and colleagues at the University of Maryland, College Park, taught in the fall of 1987, with help from superconductivity specialists across the United States. Its purpose is to prepare students and working scientists for research in this field.

The chapters begin with an overview of superconductivity by Lynn, then take up the theory of type-II superconductors (Belitz), the Josephson effect (Ferrell), and crystallography (Santoro). Further chapters address electronic structure (Wang), magnetic properties and interactions (Lynn), synthesis and diamagnetic properties (Shelton), and electron pairing (Allen). The book closes with superconducting devices (Bedard) and superconducting properties (Crow and Ong).