Sara K. F.

Stofela

Physics 7363, Fall 2017

Homework assignment #23

Nov. 27th, 2017

1) BCS theory: The BCS theory predicts an exponential temperature dependence of the
heat capacity at very low temperatures, instead of a linear heat capacity usually observed for
electrons. (a) Explain qualitatively why this is so. (b) Explain qualitatively why the
exponential behavior is only observed at very low temperatures, that is, much lower that TC.

In a normal metal, when a small amount of thermal energy is added, some of the energy is used
to excite lattice vibrations, and the remainder is used to increase the kinetic energy of the
conduction electrons. Then, the electronic specific heat C is defined as the ratio of the thermal
energy absorbed by the electrons to the increase in temperature of the system. In a superconducting
state, there is an existence of an energy gap in the energy levels available to the electrons. The
energy gap is a measure of the thermal energy necessary to move electrons from a set of ground
states (superconducting) to a set of excited states (normal). Therefore, due to the energy gap,
the specific heat of the superconductor is suppressed strongly (exponentially) at low temperatures.
Mathematically speaking, the linear electronic contribution to the specific heat is replaced by a
term that vanishes much more rapidly at very low temperatures.

Figure 1 - In a superconductor the energy gap is centered at the Fermi level.

 2) BCS theory: Consider the typical temperature dependence of the resistivity ρ(T) for a
superconducting and normal metal shown in the figure. It appears that the resistivity of the
superconductor above TC increases more rapidly than for the non-superconducting material.
Can you give a plausible explanation?

For normal metals, the resistivity dependence on temperature is given by:

 = 𝑜 + 𝛼(𝑇 − 𝑇𝑜 )

For superconductors, at high temperatures, the electrons behave as Fermi liquid, and the electron-
phonon coupling becomes more significant. Then, the resistivity dependence on temperature is
given by:

2𝑇 (−∆/𝑇)
 = 𝑜 + 𝐴𝑇 2 + 𝐵𝑇 (1 + )𝑒
∆

Therefore, the resistivity is going to increase much faster for superconductors at high values of T
than for normal metals.

3) Persistent current is a loop: For estimating the “resistivity” of a superconductor the magnetic
moment of a supracurrent in a ring with radius r0 = 1 mm and wire radius r1 = 0.1 mm is
monitored over an extended period.
a) Describe how the current can be started and estimate the current IS for a field of 10−3T in
the center of the ring.

Since the electric field E disappears along a contour Γ sufficiently deeply inside the
superconductor, the current in the loop cannot be started by induction, then:

𝜕𝑩
∇𝑬 = −
𝜕𝑡

𝜕𝑩
∫ 𝑑𝑺 = − ∫ 𝑑𝑺 ∙ ∇ × 𝑬
𝑆 𝜕𝑡 𝑆

𝜕Φ
= − ∮ 𝑑𝒍 ∙ 𝑬 = −𝑈 = −𝑅 ∙ 𝐼 = 0
𝜕𝑡 Γ
Consequently, the flux through the surface spanned by the contour Φ is time independent.

If the ring is in a magnetic field B0 while being cooled below the transition temperature Tc the
flux, πr2B0, remains conserved if B0 is sufficiently below Bc.

𝐵0
𝐼𝑆 = 2𝑟0
𝜇0
𝐵0 = 𝐵(𝑟 = 0) = 10−3 𝑇
𝑉𝑠
𝜇0 = 4𝜋10−7 ( )
𝐴𝑚
𝑉𝑠
10−3 𝑇 ( )
𝐼𝑆 = 2. 10−3 𝑚 𝐴𝑚2
𝑉𝑠
4𝜋10−7 (𝐴𝑚)

𝐼𝑆 = 1.6 𝐴
b) Estimate the field on the ring surface.
∇ × 𝑩 = 𝜇0 𝒋

∮ 𝑑𝒍 ∙ 𝑩1 = 𝜇0 ∫ 𝒋 ∙ 𝑑𝑺
Γ1 𝑆

2𝜋𝑟1 𝐵1 = 𝜇0 𝐼𝑆
1 𝑟0 1 10−3
𝐵1 = 𝐵0 = 𝐵 = 3. 18 𝐵0 = 3. 18 × 10−3 𝑇
𝜋 𝑟1 𝜋 10−4 0

c) Estimate the number of flux quanta Φ0 = h/2e in the ring.

𝑛Φ0 = Φ ≈ 𝐵0 𝜋𝑟0 2
ℎ
Φ0 = = Φ0 = 2.067 × 10−15 𝑊𝑏
2𝑒

2𝑒 1 kg
𝑛≈ 𝐵0 𝜋𝑟0 2 ≈ 2 10
−3
𝜋(10−3 𝑚)2 ≈ 1.52 × 106
ℎ kg. 𝑚
2.067 × 10−15 𝑠2 𝐴 𝑠2
𝐴