Encyclopedia of Applied Physics

This wide-ranging presentation of applied superconductivity, from fundamentals and materials right up to the details of many applications, is an essential reference for physicists and engineers in academic research as well as in industry. Readers looking for a comprehensive overview on basic effects related to superconductivity and superconducting materials will expand their knowledge and understanding of both low and high Tc superconductors with respect to their application. Technology, preparation and characterization are covered for bulk, single crystals, thins fi lms as well as electronic devices, wires and tapes. The main benefit of this work lies in its broad coverage of significant applications in magnets, power engineering, electronics, sensors and quantum metrology. The reader will find information on superconducting magnets for diverse applications like particle physics, fusion research, medicine, and biomagnetism as well as materials processing. SQUIDs and their usage in medicine or geophysics are thoroughly covered, as are superconducting radiation and particle detectors, aspects on superconductor digital electronics, leading readers to quantum computing and new devices.

This book fills the need for a coherent work combining carefully reviewed articles into a comprehensive overview accessible to research groups and lecturers. Next to fundamental physics, contributions on topical medical and material science issues are included.

The new edition is significantly updated and expanded. This unique collection of review articles, ranging from fundamental concepts up to latest applications, contains individual contributions written by renowned experts in the relevant fields. Much attention is paid to ensuring fast access to the information, with each carefully reviewed article featuring cross-referencing, references to the most relevant publications in the field, and suggestions for further reading, both introductory as well as more specialized. While the chapters on group theory, integral transforms, Monte Carlo methods, numerical analysis, perturbation theory, and special functions are thoroughly rewritten, completely new content includes sections on commutative algebra, computational algebraic topology, differential geometry, dynamical systems, functional analysis, graph and network theory, PDEs of mathematical physics, probability theory, stochastic differential equations, and variational methods.