Organic Superconductors

Organic Superconductors is an introduction to organic conductors and superconductors and a review of the current status of the field. First, organic conductors are described, then the structures and electronic properties of organic superconductors are discussed, illustrated with examples of typical compounds. The book deals in detail with theories of the mechanism of superconductivity, and more briefly with spin-density waves. The design, principle, and synthesis of organic superconductors are also described. This second edition covers the research activities of the last few years.

This book contains papers presented at the International Conference on Organic Superconductivity which was held May 20-24, 1990, at the Stanford Sierra Conference Center, South Lake Tahoe, California. In the twenty years since the First Conference on Organic Superconductivity was held (Hawaii, 1969), there has been remarkable progress in the field. At present, development is accelerating with contributions from many groups in many countries worldwide. The discovery of high Tc superconductivity by G. Bednorz and K. Muller in 1986 and subsequent developments in the ceramic superconductors have had an enormous impact on the field of superconductivity as a whole. This discovery occurred in an area entirely different from that of conventional superconduc tivity, underscoring the importance of the search for and study of novel materials of all kinds. We believe that the organics, with their wide range of structural, chemical, and physical properties, belong in this category of novel materials. This book reflects the efforts of researchers from various disciplines: physicists, chemists, and materials scientists. It addresses the normal and superconducting properties of organic materials, as well as the search for new compounds and new syntheses. We are pleased to note that one of these papers reports on the discovery of a new organic superconductor with a record high Tc in this class. One chapter is devoted to a comparison of organic superconductors and the cuprates, another, to the prospects of discovering other novel conducting or superconducting compounds.

This bang up-to-date volume contains the distilled wisdom of some of the world’s leading minds on the subject. Inside, there is a treasure trove of general (tutorial) and topical reviews, written by leading researchers in the area of organic superconductors and conductors. The papers hail from all over the world, as far afield as the USA and Australia. They cover contemporary topics such as unconventional superconductivity, non-Fermi-liquid properties, and the quantum Hall effect.

The book includes a thorough description of a wide range of physical properties of organic superconductors of reduced dimensionality. The authors start with an overview of the field followed by a background discussion and selected experimental topics. A critical discussion of theoretical proposals is presented under the constraints of experimental observations and exciting possibilities for the symmetry of the order parameter are presented, including the cases of inhomogeneous superconducting states and triplet superconductivity. The possible origins of Cooper pairing are explored and tests to detect experimentally the pairing symmetry are described in detail. The book ends with a discussion of important open questions, where the search for their answers will keep the field alive for the next decade.

The initial impetus for the search for an organic superconductor was the proposal of the existence of a polymer superconductor with a high critical temperature (Tc). This spurred on activities having the aim of synthesizing and characterizing organic conductors, which had already been going on for two decades. These efforts have resulted in the thriving field of low dimensional conductors and superconductors. This monograph is intended to be an introduction to and review of the study of organic conductors and superconductors. The investigations are to warrant a treatise of some length. At the same time sufficiently rich they have produced a few active subfields, each containing exciting topics. This situation seems to necessitate a monograph describing the current status of the field for both researchers and newcomers to the field. Such a need may also be felt by scientists engaged in the study of the high-Tc oxide superconductors for comparison of the two kinds of new supercon ductors, which share some important aspects, for example, the low-dimen sionality and the competition or coexistence of superconductivity and magnetism. However, available experimental and theoretical results are sometimes conflicting and have not yet been arranged into a coherent standard picture of the whole field. Further developments are continually being reported and therefore it is still premature to write a textbook about some of the topics. However, we have tried to include discussions of recent topics in this volume.

Assembling a great deal of material in one place, this book serves as a valuable guide for chemists and related physical scientists throughout their careers -- covering essential equations, theories, and tools needed for conducting and interpreting contemporary research. Offers a comprehensive and in-depth treatment of the most challenging concepts of chemistry Updates and revises existing chapters from the prior edition and adds: new chapters on inorganic, organic, and biochemistry; appendices about nuclides and organic reactions; and expanded questions at the end of chapters Has a complementary website with a solutions manual and PowerPoint presentations for instructors

Drawing from physics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, ceramics, and metallurgy, high-temperature superconductivity (HTSC) spans nearly the entire realm of materials science. This volume presents each of those disciplines at an introductory level, such that readers will ultimately be able to read the literature in the field. The volu.