Superconductivity is the ability of certain materials to conduct electrical current with no resistance and extremely low losses. High temperature superconductors, such as La2-xSrxCuOx (Tc=40K) and YBa2Cu3O7-x (Tc=90K), were discovered in 1987 and have been actively studied since. In spite of an intense, world-wide, research effort during this time, a complete understanding of the copper oxide (cuprate) materials is still lacking. Many fundamental questions are unanswered, particularly the mechanism by which high-Tc superconductivity occurs. More broadly, the cuprates are in a class of solids with strong electron-electron interactions. An understanding of such "strongly correlated" solids is perhaps the major unsolved problem of condensed matter physics with over ten thousand researchers working on this topic. High-Tc superconductors also have significant potential for applications in technologies ranging from electric power generation and transmission to digital electronics. This ability to carry large amounts of current can be applied to electric power devices such as motors and generators, and to electricity transmission in power lines. For example, superconductors can carry as much as 100 times the amount of electricity of ordinary copper or aluminium wires of the same size. Many universities, research institutes and companies are working to develop high-Tc superconductivity applications and considerable progress has been made. This volume brings together new leading-edge research in the field.

The authors of this book present current research in the study of superconductivity. Topics discussed in this compilation include the effects of non-magnetic defects in hole doped cuprates; deep cryogenic refrigeration by photons based on the phonon deficit effect in superconductors; superconductivity driven by an anti-polar electric phase in high temperature superconducting materials; superconductive graphite intercalation compounds; a superconducting magnetic field concentrator with nanodimensional branches and slits; magnetic mechanisms of pairing in a strongly correlated electron system of copper oxides; two non-linear mechanisms of correlations between copper carriers in superconductivity and their microscopical descriptions; three dimensionality of the critical state and variational methods for magnetically anisotropic superconductors; theory of multi-band superconductivity; conserving approximation for the self-energy of the t-U-V-J model beyond the Hartree-Fock approximation; and superconductivity as a consequence of an ordering of zero-point oscillations in electron gas.

This book is devoted to superconductivity, which is one of the most interesting problems in physics. In accordance with the outline of the book, it treats the key problems in the field of superconductivity, in particular, it discusses the mechanism(s) of superconductivity. This book is useful for researchers and graduate students in the fields of solid state physics, quantum field theory, and many-body theory.

This text consists of 13 chapters each of them defining in depth the chapter subject and surveying recent developments in superconductivity. The main objective of the book is to summarise the recent advances in material science of high-Tc superconductors, specify their properties, processing, and applications.

Theory of Superconductivity is primarily intended to serve as a background for reading the literature in which detailed applications of the microscopic theory of superconductivity are made to specific problems.

This book presents current research from across the globe in the study of superconductivity theory, materials and applications. Topics discussed include tunnelling spectroscopy of novel layered superconductors; stability conditions of high-Tc superconductors; a study of the superconducting phase in metallic superconductors; numerical calculation of trapped magnetic field for bulk superconductors; ion modified high-Tc Josephson junctions and SQUIDS; and vortices in high temperature superconductors.

This is the first volume of a comprehensive two-volume treatise on superconductivity that represents the first such publication since the earlier work by R. Parks. It systematically reviews the basic physics and recent advances in the field. Leading researchers describe the state of the art in conventional phonon-induced superconductivity, high-Tc superconductivity, and novel superconductivity. After an introduction and historical overview, the leaders in the special fields of research give a comprehensive survey of the basics and the state of the art in chapters covering the entire field of superconductivity, including conventional and unconventional superconductors. Important new results are reported in a manner intended to stimulate further research. Numerous illustrations, diagrams and tables make this book especially useful as a reference work for students, teachers, and researchers. The second volume treats novel superconductors.