John Bardeen and the BCS theory of superconductivity

MRS Bulletin

Volumn 24, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 50-55

  Hoddeson, Lillian ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA CHAMPAIGN   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DIAMAGNETISM; ELECTROMAGNETISM; ELECTRON TRANSPORT PROPERTIES; ENERGY GAP; FERMI SURFACE; GROUND STATE; ISOTOPES; NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE; PHASE TRANSITIONS; PHONONS; QUANTUM THEORY; THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES;

BARDEEN-COOPER-SCHRIEFFER (BCS) THEORY; BOLTZMANN'S CONSTANT; COOPER PAIRS; PLANCK'S CONSTANT;

SUPERCONDUCTIVITY;

EID: 0032755148     PISSN: 08837694     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1557/S0883769400051745     Document Type: Article

References (26)

1. L. Hoddeson, G. Baym, and M. Eckert, "The Development of the Quantum Mechanical Electron Theory of Metals, 1926-1933," in Out of the Crystal Maze: A History of Solid State Physics, 1900-1960, (Oxford University Press, New York, 1992) pp. 88-181, esp. 140-153.
2. A. Sommerfeld and H. Bethe, "Elektronentheorie der Metalle," in Handbuch der Physik, Ser. 2, edited by H. Geiger and K. Sheel (Springer, Berlin, 1933) 24, pp. 333-622, quote on p. 555.
3. For example, see L. Hoddeson and G. Baym, "Collective Phenomena," in Out of the Crystal Maze: A History of Solid State Physics, 1900-1960, Chapter 8, edited by L. Hoddeson, E. Braun, J. Teichmann, and S. Weart (Oxford University Press, New York, 1992) p. 491.
4. E.P. Wigner and J. Bardeen, "Theory of the Work Functions of Monovalent Metals," Phys. Rev. 48 (1935), p. 84;
5. J. Bardeen, "Theory of the Work Function, II. The Surface Double Layer," Phys. Rev. ibid. 49 (1936) p. 653;
6. J. Bardeen, ibid., "Reminiscences of Early Days in Solid State Physics," in The Beginnings of Solid State Physics, edited by Sir Nevill Mott (The Royal Society, London, 1980) p. 77.
7. For example, see M. Riordan and L. Hoddeson, Crystal Fire: The Birth of the Information Age (W.W. Norton, New York, 1997).
8. H. Jones, N.F. Mott, and H.W.B. Skinner, "A Theory of the Form of the X-ray Emission Bands and Metals," Phys. Rev. 45 (1934) p. 379.
9. J. Bardeen, "Reminiscences of Early Days in Solid State Physics," in The Beginnings of Solid State Physics, edited by Sir Nevill Mott (The Royal Society, London, 1980) p. 77.
10. J. Bardeen, "Reminiscences of Early Days in Solid State Physics," in The Beginnings of Solid State Physics, edited by Sir Nevill Mott (The Royal Society, London, 1980) p. 77. Ibid.;
11. F. London and H. London, "Supraleitung und Diamagnetismus," Physica 2 (1935) p. 341;
12. F. London, "Macroscopic Interpretation of Supraconductivity," Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 152 (1935) p. 24.
13. For a summary of research on superconductivity up to the Second World War, see P.F. Dahl, Superconductivity: Its Historical Roots and Development from Mercury to the Ceramic Oxides (American Institute of Physics, New York, 1992).
14. For insight into the work of the London brothers, see K. Gavroglu, Fritz London: A Scientific Biography (Cambridge University Press, New York, 1995);
15. Out of the Crystal Maze: A History of Solid State Physics, 1900-1960, Chapter 8, edited by L. Hoddeson, E. Braun, J. Teichmann, and S. Weart (Oxford University Press, New York, 1992) p. 588, n 21, p. 141
16. and Sec. IV. "Superconductivity, 1929-1933," in L. Hoddeson, G. Baym, and M. Eckert, "The Development of the Quantum-Mechanical Theory of Metals, 1928-1933," Rev. Mod. Phys. 59 (1987) p. 287.
17. F. London and H. London, "Supraleitung und Diamagnetismus," Physica 2 (1935) p. 348.
18. D. Shoenberg, Superconductivity (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1938). (In the mid-50s, Bardeen would recommend the 1952 edition of this book to his post-doc Leon Cooper.)
19. J. Bardeen, "Theory of Superconductivity," Phys. Rev. 59 (1941) p. 928. (Bardeen would employ a similar approach in his work during the 1980s on charge density waves.)
20. M. Riordan and L. Hoddeson, Crystal Fire: The Birth of the Information Age (W.W. Norton, New York, 1997) pp. 185-192.
21. Brattain interview by C. Weiner, May 28, 1974, AIP, quoted in M. Riordan and L. Hoddeson, Crystal Fire: The Birth of the Information Age (W.W. Norton, New York, 1997) p. 190.
22. The evidence came from work by a group of experimenters based in different labs including A.B. Pippard, W. Fairbank, E. Maxwell, P. Marcus, J.C. Daunt, K. Mendelssohn, B. Goodman, A. Brown, M. Zemansky, H. Boorse, W. Corak, M. Tinkham, and R.E. Glover.
23. J. Bardeen notes (May 15-May 18, 1950), papers, University of Illinois Archives; J. Bardeen, "Zero-Point Vibrations and Superconductivity," Phys. Rev. 79 (1950) p. 167;
24. Out of the Crystal Maze: A History of Solid State Physics, 1900-1960, Chapter 8, edited by L. Hoddeson, E. Braun, J. Teichmann, and S. Weart (Oxford University Press, New York, 1992) p. 549.
25. H. Fröhlich, "Isotope Effect in Superconductivity," (letter) Proc. Phys. Soc. (London), Sect. A 63 (1950) p. 778.
26. J. Bardeen to R. Peierls, July 17, 1951, Peierls Papers, Oxford.