Theory of Superconductivity, winter semester 2019/20
Prof. Dr. Carsten Timm
carsten.timm@tu-dresden.de
Room A 101, Zellerscher Weg 17
Office hours: Tuesday 08:00-10:00 and by appointment (preferred)
This page contains information on the lecture Theory of Superconductivity and the accompanying tutorials. The course will start on Tuesday, October 15, at 13:00 in room WIL/A317 (not in SE2/201, as originally announced). The second time slot is Thursday, at 11:10 in room REC/B214.
The lecture on Thursday, December 5, will be canceled. We will catch up later.
General Information
The course is intended for master and doctoral students of experimental or theoretical physics with an interest in condensed matter physics. It is, for example, suitable for students of the research training group GRK 1621. Ambitious bachelor students can also attend. The course counts towards credit for the "Vertiefung" for the Bachelor of Science in physics and, in in the field of theoretical physics, for the Master.
Prerequisites: Introductory quantum mechanics is required, advanced quantum mechanics ("Quantentheorie 2") is recommended since we will use the formalism of second quantization. An introduction into experimental solid state physics is also recommended. Neither solid state theory nor many-particle theory are required.
The following topics will be covered:
- Basic experiments
- Review of Bose-Einstein condensation
- Electrodynamics of superconductors: London and Pippard theories
- Ginzburg-Landau theory, Anderson-Higgs mechanism
- Vortices, Kosterlitz-Thouless theory
- Origin of the electron-electron attraction
- Cooper instability and BCS theory
- Consequences of Cooper pairing: Thermodynamics, tunneling, nuclear resonance
- Josephson effects
- Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation for inhomogeneous superconductors
- Unconventional superconductivity, cuprate and pnictide superconductors
- Andreev scattering and Andreev bound states
- Topological superconductors
Lecture Notes
A set of lecture notes for this course can be downloaded below. It contains a short bibliography. The lecture notes will evolve during the semester; the online version will be updated from time to time. I would be grateful to be informed about any mistakes and confusing arguments.
Tutorials
The lecture is accompanied by tutorials, which officially replace one of the lectures in every second week. However, we are flexible with scheduling the tutorials. In the tutorials, questions that have remained unclear in the lecture can be discussed. Also, methods introduced in the lecture will be applied to specific problems, both in class and as homework. Solving the problems is highly recommended. Only by active application can you expect to assimilate the material and make it useful for your work.
The homework solutions will be collected and graded since credit for the course will be given based on these. The problem are distributed in the tutorials and later made available here:
There will not be a final exam for this course. Master students can of course choose it as one of the two topics for the oral exam "Vertiefung Theoretische Physik". Doctoral students can take a "Fachprüfung" on this course in replacement for the Rigorosum or be examined on it in their Rigorosum.