Abstract
Following the discovery of superconductivity by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes in 1911, research concentrated on the electric conductivity of the materials investigated. Then, it was Max von Laue who in the early 1930s turned his attention to the magnetic properties of superconductors, such as their demagnetizing effects in a weak magnetic field. As a consultant at the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt in Berlin, von Laue was in close contact with Walther Meissner at the Reichsanstalt. In 1933, Meisner together with Robert Ochsenfeld discovered the perfect diamagnetism of superconductors (Meissner–Ochsenfeld effect). This was a turning point, indicating that superconductivity represents a thermodynamic equilibrium state and leading to the London theory and the Ginzburg–Landau theory. In the early 1950s in Moscow, Nikolay Zavaritzkii carried out experiments on superconducting thin films. In the theoretical analysis of his experiments, he collaborated with Alexei A. Abrikosov and for the first time they considered the possibility that the coherence length ξ can be smaller than the magnetic penetration depth λ m . They called these materials the “second group”. Subsequently, Abrikosov discovered the famous Abrikosov vortex lattice and the superconducting mixed state. The important new field of type-II superconductivity was born.
Highlights
Following the discovery of superconductivity by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes in 1911, research concentrated on the electric conductivity of the materials investigated
In 1933, Meisner together with Robert Ochsenfeld discovered the perfect diamagnetism of superconductors (Meissner–Ochsenfeld effect)
Abrikosov and for the first time they considered the possibility that the coherence length ξ can be smaller than the magnetic penetration depth λm
Summary
During the last years of the 19th century, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes set up a laboratory in Leiden for experimental low-temperature physics, which soon found worldwide recognition. For the first time, von Linde achieved the liquefaction of air by combining the Joule–Thomson effect with the counter-flow heat exchanger proposed already in 1857 by Werner Siemens. Based on this process, the liquefaction of neon, hydrogen, and helium can be achieved, with the goal of reaching lower and lower temperatures. In addition to mercury, during the early period it was found in aluminum, lead, indium, zinc, and tin Soon after his discovery of superconductivity, Kamerlingh Onnes looked into the question of whether superconductors can serve for the transport of electric power without any losses.
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