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Carsten Timm: Theory of superconductivity

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S N S N S N<br />

S<br />

z<br />

x<br />

6.5 Type-II superconductors<br />

Type-II superconductors are defined by a large Ginzburg-Landau parameter<br />

κ > 1 √<br />

2<br />

. (6.89)<br />

The analysis in the previous section goes through. But now domain walls have a region where the condensate is<br />

nearly fully developed but the flux is not completely expelled.<br />

B(x)<br />

ψ(x)<br />

~ λ<br />

0<br />

~ ξ<br />

x<br />

Therefore, the domain-wall energy is negative, γ < 0. Hence, the system tends to maximize the total area <strong>of</strong><br />

domain walls. This tendency should be counterbalanced by some other effect, otherwise the system would become<br />

inhomogeneous on microscopic (atomic) length scales and Ginzburg-Landau theory would break down. The effect<br />

in question is flux quantization—the penetrating magnetic flux cannot be split into portions smaller than the flux<br />

quantum Φ 0 = hc/2e, see Sec. 5.3.<br />

Fluxoid quantization<br />

We revisit the quantization <strong>of</strong> magnetic flux. Consider an arbitrary closed path ∂S forming the edge <strong>of</strong> a surface<br />

S, where at least the edge ∂S must lie inside a superconductor,<br />

B<br />

S<br />

44

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