Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction -- 1 Superfluidity -- 1.1 The Landau critical velocity -- 1.2 Origin of the condensate -- 1.3 Phase of the condensate -- 1.4 Two-Fermion superfluids -- 1.4.1 The Meissner effect -- 1.4.2 Flux quantization -- 1.5 BCS superconducting metals -- 1.5.1 Condensation energy -- 1.5.2 The BCS wave function -- 1.6 Summary -- 1.7 Further reading -- 2 Coherence length penetration depth and critical temperature -- 2.1 Origin of the coherence length in superconducting metals -- 2.2 Experimental methods for the determination of the coherence length -- 2.2.1 Boundary effect -- 2.2.2 Nucleation field -- 2.2.3 Nucleation field and thermodynamical critical field -- 2.2.4 Surface nucleation -- 2.3 Experimental results for the coherence length -- 2.3.1 Boundary effect experiments -- 2.3.2 Nucleation field measurements -- 2.3.3 Comparison with theoretical predictions -- 2.4 Penetration depth and critical temperature -- 2.4.1 The Uemura law -- 2.4.2 Granular superconductors -- 2.5 Further reading -- 3 The phase transition -- 3.1 Free energies -- 3.1.1 Metals: mean field behavior -- 3.1.2 Examples of non-mean field behavior -- 3.1.3 The anomalous normal state in the ceramics -- 3.2 Fluctuations -- 3.2.1 The small grain case -- 3.2.2 Three-dimensional fluctuations: quasi-mean field treatment -- 3.2.3 The heat capacity transition in the High Tc: the case of YBCO -- 3.2.4 The heat capacity transition in high anisotropy cuprates -- 3.3 Condensation energies -- 3.4 Summary -- 3.5 Further reading -- 4 Phase diagrams -- 4.1 Granular superconductors -- 4.1.1 The granular structure -- 4.1.2 The M/I transition in the granular structure: progressive Coulomb blockade -- 4.1.3 Transport regimes and the phase diagram.

4.1.4 Loss of superfluid density and decrease of Tc near the M/I transition -- 4.1.5 The short coherence length of granular superconductors -- 4.2 Phase diagram of the cuprates -- 4.2.1 Transport regimes and the phase diagram -- 4.2.2 Loss of superfluid density and critical temperature in the cuprates -- 4.3 Summary -- 4.4 Further reading -- 5 Gap symmetry and pseudo-gap -- 5.1 The BCS s-wave gap -- 5.1.1 The BCS density of states -- 5.1.2 Giaever tunneling and Andreev-Saint-James reflections -- 5.2 Gap symmetry in the cuprates -- 5.2.1 Experimental evidence for low lying states -- 5.2.2 Gap anisotropy -- 5.3 Superconducting gap and pseudo-gap -- 5.4 Summary -- 5.5 Further reading -- 6 Basics on vortices -- 6.1 Vortices and vortex matter -- 6.2 The isolated vortex -- 6.2.1 The line energy -- 6.2.2 Vortex rigidity and pinning -- 6.3 Formation of the vortex lattice -- 6.3.1 Field of first entry: equilibrium -- 6.3.2 Field of first entry: Bean-Livingston barrier -- 6.3.3 Vortex interactions and lattice formation -- 6.3.4 Lattice deformations -- 6.3.5 The Abrikosov lattice near HC2 -- 6.4 Vortex motion -- 6.5 Probing surface currents in d-wave superconductors -- 6.6 Summary -- 6.7 Further reading -- 7 Cuprate superconductors under strong fields -- 7.1 Vortex lattice melting -- 7.1.1 Lattice melting - Lindemann criterion -- 7.1.2 Melting and order parameter fluctuation effects -- 7.1.3 Loss of line tension -- 7.1.4 Effect of disorder on vortex phase transitions -- 7.2 Experiments on vortex phase transitions -- 7.2.1 Experimental methods -- 7.2.2 Vortex phase transitions in Bi 2212 crystals -- 7.2.3 Vortex phase transitions in YBCO crystals -- 7.3 Summary -- 7.4 Further reading -- 8 From fundamentals to applications -- 8.1 The need for high critical temperatures and fields -- 8.2 High critical temperatures -- 8.2.1 BCS theory.

8.2.2 The McMillan strong coupling extension of the BCS theory -- 8.2.3 Density of states effects -- 8.2.4 The BCS to Bose-Einstein strong coupling cross-over -- 8.2.5 Unconventional pairing mechanisms -- 8.2.6 Is there a BCS to BE cross-over in the cuprates? -- 8.2.7 Inhomogeneous superconductivity -- 8.2.8 Critical currents in weak fields: the depairing limit -- 8.3 Upper critical fields -- 8.3.1 Zero temperature limit -- 8.4 Practical upper temperature for superconductivity -- 8.4.1 Role of the condensation energy -- 8.4.2 Loss of line tension -- 8.4.3 Concluding remarks: coupling strength versus useful high Tc -- 8.5 Further reading -- 9 HTS conductors and their applications -- 9.1 Grain boundaries -- 9.2 First and second generation wires -- 9.2.1 Properties of first generation wires -- 9.2.2 Applications of 1G wire -- 9.2.3 Progress in coated conductors: 2G wire -- 9.2.4 Coated conductor performance -- 9.3 Further reading -- Index.