PHYS 498 SQD :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Course Materials

SOURCES

Because of the wide range of topics to be covered in this course and the intended mixture of basic and applied physics, no single textbook will be followed. Instead, I will draw from a wide range of sources, including books, review articles, and published papers.  As you will see, the body of literature on superconductivity and superconductor devices is large and always growing. Part of the challenge of this field is learning where to find information and how to apply appropriate filters to select out the key (and accurate) information.

RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOKS

SUPERCONDUCTIVITY

Author Title Publisher Comments
Annett, J. F. Superconductivity, Superfluids, and Condensates Oxford University Press, 2004 We will follow this book most closely during the first half of the class
Girvin, S. M. Circuit QED: Superconducting Qubits
Coupled to Microwave Photons		 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-6v8nW6xavPOWB4wIYgkQuYSREKMdvDl/view We will follow these Les Houches summer school lecture notes most closely during the second half of the class
Blatt, J. M. Theory of Superconductivity Academic Press, 1964 Early theoretical treatment.  Perhaps more interesting than useful.
DeGennes, P. G.  Superconductivity in Metals and Alloys Addison-Wesley, 1989. A classic.  Still the best treatment of Ginzburg-Landau theory and its application to proximity effects and interfaces.
Schrieffer, J. R. Theory of Superconductivity W. A. Benjamin, 1964. Very theoretical, but some interesting early perspectives.  Mostly BCS, of course.
Tinkham, M.   Introduction to Superconductivity McGraw-Hill Best overall text for basic superconductivity.  The second edition has expanded sections on the Josephson effect plus new sections on non-equilibrium, arrays, charging energy effects, and HTS (all the things that his research group worked on!).

 

Useful chapters in standard Solid State textbooks:

Author Title and Chapter
Ashcroft and Mermin Solid State Physics (Chapter 34)
Kittel Introduction to the Theory of Solids (Chapter 10 in 2005 edition)
Ziman Principles to the Theory of Solids (Chapter 11)
Girvin and Yang Modern Condensed Matter Physics (Chapter 19-20)

 

SUPERCONDUCTOR DEVICES

 

Author Title Publisher Comments
Anderson, P. W.    The Josephson Effect and Quantum Coherence Measurements In Superconductors and Superfluids Progress in Low Temperature Physics, Vol. V, 1967. Some good insights into the Josephson effect.
Barone, A. and Paterno, G. Physics and Applications of the Josephson Effect Wiley & Sons, 1982. By far, the most detailed treatment of Josephson physics.
Likharev, K. K. Dynamics of Josephson Junctions and Circuits Gordon and Breach, 1986. heoretical, advanced treatment with device examples.
Orlando, T. P. and Delin, K. A. Foundations of Applied Superconductivity Addison-Wesley, 1991. heavy emphasis on engineering aspects but also some good explanations of basic science and very thorough reference guides.
Waldram, J. R. "The Josephson effects in weakly-coupled Superconductors" Rep. Prog. Phys 39, 751 (1976) Highly-recommended review.  A well-written insightful treatise on the Josephson effect by a colleague of Brian Josephson at Cambridge. 
Rasmussen, S.E. et al. Superconducting circuit companion, an introduction with worked examples Phys. Rev. X Quantum 2, 040204 (2021) Really nice tutorial on circuits and circuit quantization