Theory of Fluctuations in Superconductors

This book presents a complete encyclopaedia of superconducting fluctuations, summarising the last thirty-five years of work in the field. The first part of the book is devoted to an extended discussion of the Ginzburg-Landau phenomenology of fluctuations in its thermodynamical and time-dependent versions and its various applications. The second part deals with microscopic justification of the Ginzburg-Landau approach and presents the diagrammatic theory of fluctuations. The third part is devoted to a less-detailed review of the manifestation of fluctuations in observables: diamagnetism, magnetoconductivity, various tunneling characteristics, thermoelectricity, and NMR relaxation. The final chapters turn to the manifestation of fluctuations in unconventional superconducting systems: nanodrops, nanorings, Berezinsky-Kosterlitz-Thouless state, quantum phase transition between superconductor and insulator, and thermal and quantum fluctuations in weak superconducting systems. The book ends with a brief discussion on theories of high temperature superconductivity, where fluctuations appear as the possible protagonist of this exciting phenomenon. Theory of Fluctuations in Superconductors is a thorough and timely book aimed at both theorists and experimentalists interested in current topics in superconductivity. The book will be a useful guide and reference for graduate students and established workers in the field. James F. Annett, Physics TodayPHENOMENOLOGY OF FLUCTUATIONS: GINZBURG-LANDAU FORMALISM ; 1. Introduction ; 2. Fluctuation thermodynamics ; 3. Fluctuation transport ; 4. Fluctuations in vortex structures ; BASIC NOTIONS OF THE MICROSCOPIC THEORY ; 5. Microscopic derivation of the TDGL equation ; 6. Microscopic derivation of the Ginzburg Landau functional ; 7. Microscopic theory of fluctuation conductivity ; MANIFESTATION OF FLUCTUATIONS IN OBSERVABLES ; 8. Fluctuations in magnetic field ; 9. Density of states and tunneling ; 10. Effect of fluctuations on thermoelectricity and heat transport ; 11. Spin susceptibility and NMR ; FLUCTUATIONS IN NANOSTRUCTURES AND UNCONVENTIONAL SUPERCONDUCTING SYSTEMS ; 12. Fluctuations in nanograins, nanodrops and granular superconductors ; 13. Fluctuations in Josephson junctions ; 14. Phase slip events ; 15. Phase fluctuations in two-dimensional superconducting systems ; 16. Fluctuations near superconductor-insulator transition ; 17. Role of fluctuations in high-temperature superconductivity ; 18. Appendices ; 19. Glossary