Superconductors and their applications

Electrical resistanceUsing the flow analogy, electrical resistance is similar to friction. For water flowing through a pipe, a long narrow pipe provides more resistance to the flow than does a short fat pipe.

The same applies for flowing currents: long thin wires provide more resistance than do short thick wires. The resistance (R) of a material depends on its length, cross-sectional area, and the resistivity (the Greek letter rho), a number that depends on the material: The resistivity and conductivity are inversely related.

The electrical resistance of a conductor is a measure of how difficult it is to push the charges along.

A semi-conductor will only conduct in one direction. After a certain amount of current is flowing, the voltage drop is almost constant.

A condutor is like a simple wire. Current can flow in any direction. There is a fairly low resistance.

A super condutor is a special material that at certain temperatures (usually very cold) has zero resistance. There are a lot of uses for this, some haven't be realized on a large scale yet, and some have

SUPERCONDUCTORS

• Superconductivity is a phenomenon in certain materials at extremely low temperatures ,characterized by exactly zero electrical resistance and exclusion of the interior magnetic field (i.e. the Meissner effect)

• This phenomenon is nothing but losing the resistivity absolutely when cooled to sufficient low temperatures.

Will be Discussed later on

HOW WAS IT FORMED ?

• Before the discovery of the superconductors it was thought that the electrical resistance of a conductor becomes zero only at absolute zero

• But it was found that in some materials electrical resistance becomes zero when cooled to very low temperatures

• These materials are nothing but the SUPER CONDUTORS.

Examples: Lead, niobium nitride

WHO FOUND IT? • Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 by Heike

Kammerlingh Onnes , who studied the resistance of solid mercury at cryogenic temperatures using the recently discovered liquid helium as ‘refrigerant’.

• At the temperature of 4.2 K , he observed that the resistance abruptly disappears.

• For this discovery he got the NOBEL PRIZE in PHYSICS in 1913.

• In 1913 lead was found to super conduct at 7K.• In 1941 niobium nitride was found to super conduct at 16K

SUPERCONDUCTING MATERIALSSuperconductivity - The phenomenon of losing resistivity when sufficiently cooled to a very low temperature (below a certain critical temperature). H. Kammerlingh Onnes – 1911 – Pure Mercury

Resi

stan

ce (Ω

)

4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4

Temperature (K)

0.15

0.10

0.0Tc

So finally

This means no heat, sound or any other form of energy would be released from the material when it has reached "critical temperature" (Tc), or the temperature at which the material becomes superconductive.

A superconductor is a material that can conduct electricity or transport electrons from one atom to

another with no resistance.

Unfortunately, most materials must be in an extremely low

energy state (very cold) in order to become superconductive.

Research is underway to develop compounds that become

superconductive at higher temperatures. Currently, an

excessive amount of energy must be used in the cooling

process making superconductors inefficient and

uneconomical.

Superconductors come in two different flavors:

Type-I Type II.

Transition Tempt (Tcs)

0.000325°K- and 7.8 °K at standard pressure.

Much higher temperatures when compared to type I superconductors

Type I• Sudden loss of magnetisation• Exhibit Meissner Effect• No mixed state• Soft superconductor• Eg.s – Pb, Sn, Hg

Type II

• Gradual loss of magnetisation• Does not exhibit complete Meissner

Effect• Mixed state present• Hard superconductor• Eg.s – Nb-Sn, Nb-Ti

Type-I Superconductor

A type I superconductor consists of basic conductive elements that are used in everything from electrical wiring to computer microchips.

At present, type I superconductors have transition temperature (Tcs) between 0.000325 °K and 7.8 °K at standard pressure.

One such material is sulfur which, requires a pressure of 9.4 x 1011 N/m2 and a temperature of 17 °K to reach superconductivity.

Some type I superconductors require incredible amounts of pressure in order to reach the superconductive state.

Some other examples of type I superconductors include

Mercury - 4.15 °K,

Lead - 7.2 °K,

Aluminum - 1.175 °K

Zinc - 0.85 °K.

Roughly half of the elements in the periodic table are known to be superconductive.

Type II Superconductors

A type II superconductor is composed of metallic compounds such as copper or lead. They reach a superconductive state at very much higher temperatures when compared to type I superconductors.

The highest Tc reached at stardard pressure, to date, is 135 °K or -138 °C by a compound (HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8) that falls into a group of superconductors known as cuprate perovskites.

When cooled to sufficiently low temperatures, a large

number of metals and alloys can conduct electric current

without resistance. Obviously, these specific materials

undergo a phase transition to a new superconducting state

characterized by the complete loss of resistance below a

well defined critical temperature, TC.

Thus zero resistivity (ρ=0), i.e. infinite conductivity is observed in a superconductor at all temperatures below a critical temperature (ρ = 0 for all T < TC ).

Above Figure shows resistance versus temperature for a low-temperature superconductor. At the transition temperature TC the resistance drops abruptly to an unmeasurably small value.

Tc

The critical temperature, TC varies from superconductor to superconductor but lies between less than 1 K and approximately 20 K for metals and metal alloys.

Until 1986 the maximum TC was observed in an alloy of niobium, aluminium and germanium.

Recently it has been demonstrated that some complex cuprate oxide ceramics have critical temperatures in excess of 100 K.

Today, the highest known TC is 133 K for mercury based cuprate oxide, HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8+δ. When this compound is subjected to high pressure ~30 GPa, the onset of TC increases to ~164 K.

The superconductors with TC < 25 K are called conventional or low TC superconductors,

whereas

cuprate oxides and some other recently discovered sunderconductors with TC > 25 K are termed as high temperature superconductors (HTSC).

Occurrence of Superconductivity

Superconducting Elements TC (K)

Sn (Tin) 3.72

Hg (Mercury) 4.15

Pb (Lead) 7.19

Superconducting Compounds

NbTi (Niobium Titanium) 10

Nb3Sn (Niobium Tin) 18.1

MEISSNER EFFECT

In addition to resistanceless current transport, the superconducting state is characterized by perfect

diamagnetism, i.e. B = 0 inside the superconductor.

The Meissner effect is the expulsion of a magnetic field from a superconductor during its transition to the superconducting state.

Walther Meissner and Robert Ochsenfeld discovered the phenomenon in 1933 by measuring the magnetic field distribution outside superconducting tin and lead samples

When the superconducting material is placed in a magnetic field under the condition when T≤TC and H ≤ HC, the flux lines are excluded

from the material.

Meissner effect

Transition temperature is the temperature at which a material changes from one crystal state (allotrope) to another. For example, when rhombic sulfur is heated above 96°C it changes form into monoclinic sulfur. When cooled below 96°C it reverts to rhombic sulfur.

The magnetic inductance becomes zero inside the superconductor when it is cooled below TC and the magnetic flux is expelled from the interior of the superconductor.

This effect is called the Meissner-Ochsenfeld effect after its discoverers and it is the ultimate practical test in any new material.

Important to know: There always exists some critical field, Hc, above which superconductivity disappears. Superconductivity disappears and the material returns to the normal state if one applies an external magnetic field of strength greater than Hc.

The samples, in the presence of an applied magnetic field, were cooled below what is called their superconducting transition

temperature.

Below the transition temperature the samples canceled nearly all

magnetic fields inside.

They detected this effect only indirectly; because the magnetic flux is conserved by a superconductor, when the interior field decreased the exterior field increased. The experiment demonstrated for the first time that superconductors were more than just perfect conductors and provided a uniquely defining property of the superconducting state.

In a weak applied field, a superconductor "ejects" nearly all

magnetic flux.

It does this by setting up electric currents

near its surface.

The magnetic field of these surface currents cancels the applied

magnetic field inside the bulk of the superconductor.

Because the field expulsion, or cancellation, does not change with time, the currents producing this effect (called persistent currents) do not decay with time.

Therefore the conductivity can be thought of as infinite: a

superconductor.

So finally we can say that the major Conditions for a material to be a superconductor

i. Resistivity ρ = 0

ii. Magnetic Induction B = 0 when in an uniform magnetic field

Characteristic Properties of

Superconductors

(i) Zero Resistivity, i.e. Infinite Conductivity ( ρ= 0 for all T < TC):

The electrical resistance of a superconductor at all temperatures below a critical temperature TC is practically zero.

If we assume the usual Ohm’s law (V = RI) describing the superconducting state

Electrical Resistance

(ii) Meissner-Ochsenfeld Effect (B = O inside the superconductor):

The magnetic inductance becomes zero inside the superconductor when it is cooled in a weak external field. The effect is called the Meissner-Ochsenfeld effect.

The superconducting metal always expels the field from its interior, and has

The superconducting state of a metal exists only in a particular range of temperature and field strength. The condition for the superconducting state to exist in the metal is that some combination of temperature and field strength should be less than a critical value.

Effect of Magnetic Field

Its important to know that the Superconductivity of the metal will disappear if the temperature of the specimen is raised above its TC, or if a sufficiently strong magnetic is employed. There always exists some critical field Hc, above which superconductivity disappears.

Critical magnetic field (HC) –

Minimum magnetic field required to destroy the superconducting property at any temperature

H0 – Critical field at 0K

T - Temperature below TC

TC - Transition Temperature

2

0 1CC

TH H

T

Element HC at 0K(mT)

Nb 198

Pb 80.3

Sn 30.9

Thermal Properties of Superconductors

The thermal conductivity of superconductors undergoes a continuous change between the two phases and usually lower in a superconducting phase and at very low temperatures approaches zero.

This suggests that the electronic contribution drops, the superconducting electrons possibly plays no part in heat transfer.

The thermal conductivity of tin (TC = 3.73 K) at 2 K is 16 W cm–1 K–1 for the superconducting phase and 34 W cm–1K–1 for the normal phase.

Applications of

Superconductors

Application—1

Maglev (magnetic levitation) trains. These work because a superconductor repels a magnetic field so a magnet will float above a superconductor – this virtually eliminates the friction between the train and the track. However, there are safety concerns about the strong magnetic fields used as these could be a risk to human health.

Yamanashi MLX01 train in Japan

Levitation is the process by which an object is suspended by a force against gravity, in a stable position without solid physical contact.

Application---2

Large hadron collider or particle accelerator. Superconductors are used to make extremely powerful electromagnets to accelerate charged particles very fast (to near the speed of light).

Application---3

SQUIDs (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices) are used to detect even the weakest magnetic field. They are used in mine detection equipment to help in the removal of land mines.

Application---4

“E-Bombs”

The USA is developing “E-bombs”. These are devices that make use of strong, superconductor derived magnetic fields to create a fast, high-intensity electromagnetic pulse that can disable an enemy’s electronic equipment.

These devices were first used in wartime in March 2003 when USA forces attacked an Iraqi broadcast facility. They can release two billion watts of energy at once.

Application---5

Efficient Electricity Transportation

Superconductors have many uses - the most obvious being as very efficient conductors; if the national grid were made of superconductors rather than aluminium, then the savings would be enormous - there would be no need to transform the electricity to a higher voltage (this lowers the current, which reduces energy loss to heat) and then back down again.

Superconducting magnets are also more efficient in generating electricity than conventional copper wire generators - in fact, a superconducting generator about half the size of a copper wire generator is about 99% efficient; typical generators are around 50% efficient.

Summary of Applications

• Large distance power transmission (ρ = 0)• Switching device (easy destruction of

superconductivity)• Sensitive electrical equipment (small V variation

large constant current)• Memory / Storage element (persistent current)• Highly efficient small sized electrical generator and

transformer• E bombs• SQUIDs (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices)

•

Medical Applications•NMR – Nuclear Magnetic Resonance – Scanning

•Brain wave activity – brain tumour, defective cells

•Separate damaged cells and healthy cells

•Superconducting solenoids – magneto hydrodynamic power generation – plasma maintenance

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