A brief course on Superconductivity

By Prof. Saurabh Basu | IIT Guwahati

Learners enrolled: 5314

The course deals with the basics of superconductivity, including Meissner effect, electrodynamic response, -type-I and type-II superconductors etc. BCS theory, the only microscopic theory of superconductivity is discussed in details with a view to understand superconducting transition temperature and its relation to the pairing gap. Further Ginzburg Landau theory is introduced which is a phenomenological theory that is applicable in general to second order phase transitions. A few experimental methods to explore the superconducting gap are discussed. Unconventional superconductivity is elaborately talk about with regard to the unusual normal phase of the high Tc cuprates and ramification due to the breakdown of Landau's Fermi liquid theory therein is emphasized. Finally Josephson effect is introduced and its applications to superconducting circuits are studied. Special emphasis is given to DC SQUID which uses Josephson junctions and has a variety of applications, such as sensors, amplifiers, magnetometers etc.

INTENDED AUDIENCE : B.Tech (Material Science) and M.Sc (Physics, Material Science) andPhD students, lecturers (Solid state Physics)

PRE-REQUISITES : Solid State Physics

INDUSTRY SUPPORT : Companies into material science and ceramic research will be benefitted.

Summary

Course Status :	Completed
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	4 weeks
Category :	Physics
Credit Points :	1
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	18 Jan 2021
End Date :	12 Feb 2021
Enrollment Ends :	01 Feb 2021
Exam Date :	21 Mar 2021 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1 : Principles of Superconductivity, London equations, Penetration depth, Coherence Length

Week 2 : Type-I and Type-II, superconductors, linear response theory, BCS theory, Boundary value problems at high frequencies

Week 3 : Basics of Josephson junctions, SQUIDS, Application of SQUIDS, Quantum Logic circuit

Week 4 : Introduction to High-Tc superconductivity, Graphite superconductors, Fe-based superconductors

Books and references

• M. Tinkham, Introduction to Superconductivity (2 nd Ed.)Dover Publications(2004)
• W. Buckel and R. Kleiner, Superconductivity Fundamentsand Applications (2 nd Ed.) John Wiley – VCH (2003)
• Shu-Ang Zhou, Electrodynamics of Solids and MicrowaveSuperconductivity. John Wiley and Sons(1999)
• R. K. Kremer, J. S. Kim, and A. Simon, High T cSuperconductors and Related Transition Metal OxidesSpringer (2007)

Instructor bio

Prof. Saurabh Basu

IIT Guwahati

Dr. Saurabh Basu is a professor at the Department of Physics, IIT Guwahati. The area ofexpertise is Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, with special emphasis on the correlatedboson and fermion systems, topological insulators. He has about 90 research publicationsin different refereed international journals.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: 21 March 2021 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 3 assignments out of the total 4 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Guwahati .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

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