Superconductivity

by Dahl, Per F.

• ISBN13: 9780883188484
• ISBN10: 0883188481
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1992-05-01
• Publisher: Amer Inst of Physics

Summary

"Blurb Contents" "Copies of Onnes's or Meissner's lab notebooks--this is the stuff of science. This book is truly a tour de force. I cannot think of a single person working in the area of superconductivity who would not be totally absorbed by it." Materials Design The first truly comprehensive history of superconductivity, from the first studies in the late 19th century to the present. It delves deeply into a largely undocumented early history, marked by H. Kamerlingh Onnes's first successes with mercury in 1911 and extending to the onset of World War II. Also encompasses materials development of the fifties, the work that culminated in the BCS theory of the early sixties, and the important recent application of ceramic oxides.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface
The Convergence of Classical Concepts circa 1900	p. 1
The nadir of temperature	p. 1
From resistance thermometry to basic questions	p. 13
The electron theory	p. 22
Unexpected Guidance	p. 32
Into a new domain	p. 32
A clue from Berlin	p. 37
Onnes's hypothesis and prospects for a definitive test	p. 45
Discovery and Its Aftermath	p. 50
Superconductivity	p. 50
The quantum of low temperature revisited	p. 55
Hints of a complication	p. 62
Great Expectations	p. 66
A critical current	p. 66
Superconducting magnets	p. 72
A vision of 100 kilogauss	p. 74
A Technical Snag; The War Intervenes	p. 80
Another threshold, and dashed expectations	p. 80
Persistent currents	p. 83
The dilemma of superconductivity	p. 87
Hoist vis-a-vis Kamerlingh Onnes	p. 92
A Fresh Start	p. 96
The war years; Resumption of experiments	p. 96
Brussels, 1921: Ignored clues	p. 101
Brussels, 1924: A question of reversibility	p. 106
A legacy of Nernst	p. 117
New Developments	p. 121
Hysteresis	p. 121
New superconductors and new laboratories	p. 133
Magnetic transition on closer inspection	p. 142
Further Clues	p. 148
Thermal conductivity; Quantum-theoretical efforts	p. 148
Reversibility at last?	p. 153
A curious episode	p. 158
Experimentum Crucis	p. 164
Von Laue steps in	p. 164
Opportunity missed	p. 169
A state B = 0	p. 173
Precarious Affirmation	p. 182
Initial reaction to Meissner's discovery	p. 182
The Reichsanstalt experiments	p. 195
Taking stock at Bad Pyrmont	p. 208
Mostly Alloys	p. 215
The anomalies of alloys	p. 215
Mendelssohn's sponge, Gorter's razor blade, and more	p. 219
Fritz and Heinz London	p. 225
The Londons at Oxford	p. 228
Schubnikow's final contribution	p. 231
Theoretical and Practical Breakthroughs	p. 235
Winding down, circa 1940	p. 235
Postwar highlights: A microscopic theory	p. 245
A technology is born	p. 256
Large-scale Vindication	p. 265
Putting the technology to work: The National Laboratories assume leadership	p. 265
The painful path to the Tevatron	p. 271
The Superconducting Super Collider	p. 281
Aftermath	p. 294
High-temperature superconductivity	p. 294
List of Abbreviations	p. 304
Notes	p. 306
Bibliography	p. 354
Name Index	p. 371
Subject Index	p. 383
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.