Chapter 9 - Characteristic parameters

Abstract

The main purpose of this chapter is to present the tabulations of data for the important parameters of superconductors including coherence length, penetration depth, energy gap, critical fields, critical current density, and electron-phonon coupling constant. The chapter describes the relationship among the parameters, penetration depths, coherence lengths, critical currents, critical magnetic fields, electron-phonon coupling constants and superconducting gap parameters. The chapter elucidates the information related to various parameters in a tabulated form. It shows that if any two of the characteristic parameters of a Type II superconductor are specified, then the remainder can be estimated. Energy gaps of individual compounds can vary considerably among the different tunneling experiments and an attempt has been made to select the best values. There are a number of ways to determine the critical current in a wire, and a simple way to do so is to send more and more current through the wire until it goes normal.