Squids The Josephson Effects And Superconducting Electronics

The science of superconducting electronics was first developed over forty years ago, fifty years after the discovery of superconductivity. Since then, a wide range of applications has emerged, and more are envisaged within this ever expanding and exciting field. SQUIDs, the Josephson Effects and Superconducting Electronics chronicles this development from fundamental principles to the present work with high-temperature superconductors. The book discusses superconductivity, Josephson effects, and detectors of unparalleled sensitivity such as SQUIDs. It punctuates theory with practical discussions on how to harness this new science. This complete guide to the subject is an invaluable resource for graduate students and researchers with a specific interest in this field. It also provides guidance to those working in areas of industry where superconducting electronics could be applied.

"The science of superconducting electronics was first developed over forty years ago, fifty years after the discovery of superconductivity. Since then, a wide range of applications has emerged, and more are envisaged within this ever expanding and exciting field. SQUIDs, the Josephson Effects and Superconducting Electronics chronicles this development from fundamental principles to the present work with high-temperature superconductors. The book discusses superconductivity, Josephson effects, and detectors of unparalleled sensitivity such as SQUIDs. It punctuates theory with practical discussions on how to harness this new science. This complete guide to the subject is an invaluable resource for graduate students and researchers with a specific interest in this field. It also provides guidance to those working in areas of industry where superconducting electronics could be applied."--Provided by publisher.

This volume is based on the proceedings of the NATO-sponsored Advanced Studies Institute (ASn on The New Superconducting Electronics (held 9-20 August 1992 in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire USA). The contents herein are intended to provide an update to an earlier volume on the same subject (based on a NATO ASI held in 1988). Four years seems a relatively short time interval, and our title itself, featuring The New Superconducting Electronics, may appear somewhat pretentious. Nevertheless, we feel strongly that the ASI fostered a timely reexamination of the technical progress and application potential of this rapid-paced field. There are, indeed, many new avenues for technological innovation which were not envisioned or considered possible four years ago. The greatest advances by far have occurred with regard to oxide superconductors, the so-called high transition-temperature superconductors, known in short as HTS. These advances are mainly in the ability to fabricate both (1) high-quality, relatively large-area films for microwave filters and (2) multilayer device structures, principally superconducting-normal-superconducting (SNS) Josephson junctions, for superconducting-quantum-interference-device (SQUID) magnetometers. Additionally, we have seen the invention and development of the flux-flow transistor, a planar three-terminal device. During the earlier ASI only the very first HTS films with adequate critical-current density had just been fabricated, and these were of limited area and had high resistance for microwave current.

The on-going developments, and the recent achievements of the superconducting electronics (especially in the field of Josephson junctions and the inherent nonlinear dynamics) inspired us to organize a conference where different groups working on the subject could meet and discuss the latest results of their investigations. This idea was realized as two joint workshops, the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Superconducting Electronics with Prof. N.F. Pedersen as chairman, and the 2nd Workshop on Josephson Devices, with Profs. G. Costabile and M. Russo as chairmen, held in Capri, Italy on September 3-7, 1990. The Workshops were very successful. About 70 scientists from 12 countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, People's Republic of China, Sweden, United Kingdom, USA, USSR, and Venezuela) enjoyed the many interesting and mostly informal occasions for scientific exchanges as well as the very pleasant weather of Southern Italy. We are very grateful to the Institutions which made possible the realization and the success of the conference with their financial support : NATO Science Committee through the NATO International Scientific Exchange Programmes, University of Salerno, and Istituto di Cibernetica of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (C.N.R.) of Italy. The conference was held under the auspices of the Progetto Finalizzato "Superconductive and Cryogenic Technologies" of C.N.R. Finally special thanks go to our Conference Secretary Anna Maria Mazzarella for carrying out most of the organizative work, and for her continuous "on stage" support in solving all the problems which inevitably arise in such occasions.

Understanding the nature of vortices in high-Tc superconductors is a crucial subject for research on superconductive electronics, especially for superconducting interference devices (SQUIDs), it is also a fundamental problem in condensed-matter physics. Recent technological progress in methods for both direct and indirect observation of vortices, e.g. scanning SQUID, terahertz imaging, and microwave excitation, has led to new insights into vortex physics, the dynamic behavior of vortices in junctions and related questions of noise. This book presents the current status of research activity and provides new information on the applications of SQUIDs, including magnetocardiography, immunoassays, and laser-SQUID microscopes, all of which are close to being commercially available.

Principles and applications of SQUIDs serves as a textbook and a multi-author collection of critical reviews. Providing both basic aspects and recent progress in SQUIDs technology, it offers a realistic and stimulating picture of the state of the art. It can also contribute to a further development of the field for commercial applications.

Since the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity considerable progress has been made in research and development of superconductive electronic devices. This fact is reflected by the large variety of contributions to the 4th International Conference on Superconducting and Quantum Effect Devices and their Applications - SQUID'91. This comprehensive proceedings volume covers Josephson junctions, SQUIDs, radiation detectors, flux-flow transitors.. The main applications are contained in the chapters on biomagnetic instrumentation, metrologym and rf-applications. The purpose of this volume is to provide an up-to-date reference book on thestatus of this rapidly changing and promising field of electronic device research on the basis of low- and high-temperature materials.