Theory of Superconductivity

Theory of Superconductivity: From Weak to Strong Coupling leads the reader from basic principles and detailed derivations to the many phenomena in conventional and high-temperature superconductors. It describes the physical properties of novel superconductors, superconducting critical temperatures and critical fields, isotope effects, normal and su Theory of Superconductivity: From Weak to Strong Coupling leads the reader from basic principles through detailed derivations and a description of the many interesting phenomena in conventional and high-temperature superconductors. The book describes physical properties of novel superconductors, in particular, the normal state, superconducting critical temperatures and critical fields, isotope effects, normal and superconducting gaps, tunneling, angle-resolved photoemission, stripes, and symmetries. The book divides naturally into two parts. Part I introduces the phenomenology of superconductivity, the microscopic BCS theory, and its extension to the intermediate coupling regime. The first three chapters of this part cover generally accepted themes in the conventional theory of superconductivity and serve as a good introduction to the subject. Chapter 4 describes what happens to the conventional theory when the coupling between electrons becomes strong. Part II describes key physical properties of high-temperature superconductors and their theoretical interpretation. Alternative viewpoints are discussed, but the emphasis is placed on the bipolaron theory.

This book discusses the most important aspects of the theory. The phenomenological model is followed by the microscopic theory of superconductivity, in which modern formalism of the many-body theory is used to treat most important problems such as superconducting alloys, coexistence of superconductivity with the magnetic order, and superconductivity in quasi-one-dimensional systems. It concludes with a discussion on models for exotic and high temperature superconductivity. Its main aim is to review, as complete as possible, the theory of superconductivity from classical models and methods up to the 1987 results on high temperature superconductivity.