The table below shows some of the parameters of common superconductors. X:Y means material X doped with element Y, TC is the highest reported transition temperature in kelvins and HC is a critical magnetic field in tesla. "BCS" means whether or not the superconductivity is explained within the BCS theory.
Substance | Class | TC (K) | HC (T) | Type | BCS | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Al | Element | 1.20 | 0.01 | I | yes | [1] [2] [3] |
Bi | Element | 5.3×10−4 | 5.2×10−6 | I | no | [note 1] [4] |
Cd | Element | 0.52 | 0.0028 | I | yes | [2] [3] |
Diamond:B | Element | 11.4 | 4 | II | yes | [5] [6] [7] |
Ga | Element | 1.083 | 0.0058 | I | yes | [2] [3] [8] |
Hf | Element | 0.165 | I | yes | [2] | |
α-Hg | Element | 4.15 | 0.04 | I | yes | [2] [3] |
β-Hg | Element | 3.95 | 0.04 | I | yes | [2] [3] |
In | Element | 3.4 | 0.03 | I | yes | [2] [3] |
Ir | Element | 0.14 | 0.0016 | I | yes | [2] [8] |
α-La | Element | 4.9 | I | yes | [2] | |
β-La | Element | 6.3 | I | yes | [2] | |
Li | Element | 4×10−4 | I | [9] | ||
Mo | Element | 0.92 | 0.0096 | I | yes | [2] [8] |
Nb | Element | 9.26 | 0.82 | II | yes | [2] [3] |
Os | Element | 0.65 | 0.007 | I | yes | [2] |
Pa | Element | 1.4 | I | yes | [10] | |
Pb | Element | 7.19 | 0.08 | I | yes | [2] [3] |
Re | Element | 2.4 | 0.03 | I | yes | [2] [3] [11] |
Rh | Element | 3.25×10−4 | 4.9×10−6 | I | [12] | |
Ru | Element | 0.49 | 0.005 | I | yes | [2] [3] |
Si:B | Element | 0.4 | 0.4 | II | yes | [13] |
Sn | Element | 3.72 | 0.03 | I | yes | [2] [3] |
Ta | Element | 4.48 | 0.09 | I | yes | [2] [3] |
Tc | Element | 7.46–11.2 | 0.04 | II | yes | [2] [3] |
α-Th | Element | 1.37 | 0.013 | I | yes | [2] [3] |
Ti | Element | 0.39 | 0.01 | I | yes | [2] [3] |
Tl | Element | 2.39 | 0.02 | I | yes | [2] [3] |
α-U | Element | 0.68 | I | yes | [2] [10] | |
β-U | Element | 1.8 | I | yes | [10] | |
V | Element | 5.03 | 1 | II | yes | [2] [3] |
α-W | Element | 0.015 | 0.00012 | I | yes | [8] [10] [14] |
β-W | Element | 1–4 | [14] | |||
Zn | Element | 0.855 | 0.005 | I | yes | [2] [3] |
Zr | Element | 0.55 | 0.014 | I | yes | [2] [3] |
Ba8Si46 | Clathrate | 8.07 | 0.008 | II | yes | [15] |
CaH6 | Clathrate | 215 (172 GPa) | [16] [17] | |||
C6Ca | Compound | 11.5 | 0.95 | II | [18] | |
C6Li3Ca2 | Compound | 11.15 | II | [18] | ||
C8K | Compound | 0.14 | II | [18] | ||
C8KHg | Compound | 1.4 | II | [18] | ||
C6K | Compound | 1.5 | II | [19] | ||
C3K | Compound | 3.0 | II | [19] | ||
C3Li | Compound | <0.35 | II | [19] | ||
C2Li | Compound | 1.9 | II | [19] | ||
C3Na | Compound | 2.3–3.8 | II | [19] | ||
C2Na | Compound | 5.0 | II | [19] | ||
C8Rb | Compound | 0.025 | II | [18] | ||
C6Sr | Compound | 1.65 | II | [18] | ||
Sr2RuO4 | Compound | 0.93 | II | [20] | ||
C6Yb | Compound | 6.5 | II | [18] | ||
C60Cs2Rb | Compound | 33 | II | yes | [21] | |
C60K3 | Compound | 19.8 | 0.013 | II | yes | [15] [22] |
C60RbX | Compound | 28 | II | yes | [23] | |
C60Cs3 | Compound | 38 | ||||
FeB4 | Compound | 2.9 | II | [24] | ||
InN | Compound | 3 | II | yes | [25] | |
In2O3 | Compound | 3.3 | ~3 | II | yes | [26] |
LaB6 | Compound | 0.45 | yes | [27] | ||
La3Ni2O7 | Nickelate | 80 (>14 GPa) | [28] | |||
MgB2 | Compound | 39 | 74 | II | yes | [29] |
Nb3Al | Compound | 18 | II | yes | [2] | |
NbC1-xNx | Compound | 17.8 | 12 | II | yes | [30] [31] |
Nb3Ge | Compound | 23.2 | 37 | II | yes | [32] |
NbO | Compound | 1.38 | II | yes | [33] | |
NbN | Compound | 16 | II | yes | [2] | |
Nb3Sn | Compound | 18.3 | 30 | II | yes | [34] |
NbTi | Compound | 10 | 15 | II | yes | [2] |
SiC:B | Compound | 1.4 | 0.008 | I | yes | [35] |
SiC:Al | Compound | 1.5 | 0.04 | II | yes | [35] |
TiN | Compound | 5.6 | 5 | I | yes | [36] [37] [38] |
V3Si | Compound | 17 | [39] | |||
YB6 | Compound | 8.4 | II | yes | [40] [41] [42] | |
ZrN | Compound | 10 | yes | [43] | ||
ZrB12 | Compound | 6.0 | II | yes | [42] | |
UTe2 | Compound | 2.0 | no | [44] | ||
CuBa0.15La1.85O4 | Cuprate | 52.5 | [45] | |||
YBCO | Cuprate | 95 | 120–250 | II | no | |
EuBCO | Cuprate | 93 | II | no | [46] | |
GdBCO | Cuprate | 91 | II | no | [47] | |
BSCCO | Cuprate | 104 | ||||
HBCCO | Cuprate | 135 | ||||
SmFeAs(O,F) | Iron-based | 55 | ||||
CeFeAs(O,F) | Iron-based | 41 | ||||
LaFeAs(O,F) | Iron-based | 26 | ||||
LaFeSiH | Iron-based | 11 | [48] | |||
LaFePO | Iron-based | 4 | ||||
FeSe:SrTiO3 | Iron-based | 60-100 | ||||
(Ba,K)Fe2As2 | Iron-based | 38 | ||||
NaFeAs | Iron-based | 20 | ||||
HgTlBaCaCuO | Compound | 164 | II | |||
H2S | Polyhydride | 203 (155 GPa) | II | |||
LaH10 | Polyhydride | 250 (150 GPa) | [49] | |||
Yb | Element | 1.4 (>86 GPa) | no | [50] |
Unconventional superconductors are materials that display superconductivity which does not conform to conventional BCS theory or its extensions.
High-temperature superconductors are defined as materials with critical temperature above 77 K, the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. They are only "high-temperature" relative to previously known superconductors, which function at even colder temperatures, close to absolute zero. The "high temperatures" are still far below ambient, and therefore require cooling. The first break through of high-temperature superconductor was discovered in 1986 by IBM researchers Georg Bednorz and K. Alex Müller. Although the critical temperature is around 35.1 K, this new type of superconductor was readily modified by Ching-Wu Chu to make the first high-temperature superconductor with critical temperature 93 K. Bednorz and Müller were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1987 "for their important break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials". Most high-Tc materials are type-II superconductors.
In superconductivity, Homes's law is an empirical relation that states that a superconductor's critical temperature (Tc) is proportional to the strength of the superconducting state for temperatures well below Tc close to zero temperature (also referred to as the fully formed superfluid density, ) multiplied by the electrical resistivity measured just above the critical temperature. In cuprate high-temperature superconductors the relation follows the form
In physics, topological order is a kind of order in the zero-temperature phase of matter. Macroscopically, topological order is defined and described by robust ground state degeneracy and quantized non-Abelian geometric phases of degenerate ground states. Microscopically, topological orders correspond to patterns of long-range quantum entanglement. States with different topological orders cannot change into each other without a phase transition.
In condensed matter physics, a pseudogap describes a state where the Fermi surface of a material possesses a partial energy gap, for example, a band structure state where the Fermi surface is gapped only at certain points.
In superconductivity, a semifluxon is a half integer vortex of supercurrent carrying the magnetic flux equal to the half of the magnetic flux quantum Φ0. Semifluxons exist in the 0-π long Josephson junctions at the boundary between 0 and π regions. This 0-π boundary creates a π discontinuity of the Josephson phase. The junction reacts to this discontinuity by creating a semifluxon. Vortex's supercurrent circulates around 0-π boundary. In addition to semifluxon, there exist also an antisemifluxon. It carries the flux −Φ0/2 and its supercurrent circulates in the opposite direction.
A charge density wave (CDW) is an ordered quantum fluid of electrons in a linear chain compound or layered crystal. The electrons within a CDW form a standing wave pattern and sometimes collectively carry an electric current. The electrons in such a CDW, like those in a superconductor, can flow through a linear chain compound en masse, in a highly correlated fashion. Unlike a superconductor, however, the electric CDW current often flows in a jerky fashion, much like water dripping from a faucet due to its electrostatic properties. In a CDW, the combined effects of pinning and electrostatic interactions likely play critical roles in the CDW current's jerky behavior, as discussed in sections 4 & 5 below.
Ferromagnetic superconductors are materials that display intrinsic coexistence of ferromagnetism and superconductivity. They include UGe2, URhGe, and UCoGe. Evidence of ferromagnetic superconductivity was also reported for ZrZn2 in 2001, but later reports question these findings. These materials exhibit superconductivity in proximity to a magnetic quantum critical point.
Iron-based superconductors (FeSC) are iron-containing chemical compounds whose superconducting properties were discovered in 2006. In 2008, led by recently discovered iron pnictide compounds, they were in the first stages of experimentation and implementation..
In chemistry, oxypnictides are a class of materials composed of oxygen, a pnictogen and one or more other elements. Although this group of compounds has been recognized since 1995, interest in these compounds increased dramatically after the publication of the superconducting properties of LaOFeP and LaOFeAs which were discovered in 2006 and 2008. In these experiments the oxide was partly replaced by fluoride.
Covalent superconductors are superconducting materials where the atoms are linked by covalent bonds. The first such material was boron-doped synthetic diamond grown by the high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) method. The discovery had no practical importance, but surprised most scientists as superconductivity had not been observed in covalent semiconductors, including diamond and silicon.
The 122 iron arsenide unconventional superconductors are part of a new class of iron-based superconductors. They form in the tetragonal I4/mmm, ThCr2Si2 type, crystal structure. The shorthand name "122" comes from their stoichiometry; the 122s have the chemical formula AEFe2Pn2, where AE stands for alkaline earth metal (Ca, Ba Sr or Eu) and Pn is pnictide (As, P, etc.). These materials become superconducting under pressure and also upon doping. The maximum superconducting transition temperature found to date is 38 K in the Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2. The microscopic description of superconductivity in the 122s is yet unclear.
Subir Sachdev is Herchel Smith Professor of Physics at Harvard University specializing in condensed matter. He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2014, and received the Lars Onsager Prize from the American Physical Society and the Dirac Medal from the ICTP in 2018. He was a co-editor of the Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics from 2017–2019.
Heavy fermion superconductors are a type of unconventional superconductor.
The Fulde–Ferrell–Larkin–Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phase can arise in a superconductor in large magnetic field. Among its characteristics are Cooper pairs with nonzero total momentum and a spatially non-uniform order parameter, leading to normal conducting areas in the superconductor.
CeCoIn5 ("Cerium-Cobalt-Indium 5") is a heavy-fermion superconductor with a layered crystal structure, with somewhat two-dimensional electronic transport properties. The critical temperature of 2.3 K is the highest among all of the Ce-based heavy-fermion superconductors.
Fullerides are chemical compounds containing fullerene anions. Common fullerides are derivatives of the most common fullerenes, i.e. C60 and C70. The scope of the area is large because multiple charges are possible, i.e., [C60]n− (n = 1, 2...6), and all fullerenes can be converted to fullerides. The suffix "-ide" implies their negatively charged nature.
Antonio Helio de Castro Neto is a Brazilian-born physicist. He is the founder and director of the Centre for Advanced 2D Materials at the National University of Singapore. He is a condensed matter theorist known for his work in the theory of metals, magnets, superconductors, graphene and two-dimensional materials. He is a distinguished professor in the Departments of Materials Science Engineering, and Physics and a professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He was elected as a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2003. In 2011 he was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
John F. Mitchell is an American chemist and researcher. He is the deputy director of the materials science division at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and leads Argonne's Emerging Materials Group.
Dale J. Van Harlingen is an American condensed matter physicist.