Around half the metallic elements (and many compounds) become superconducting at sufficiently low temperatures. This should not be a surprise - one expects their electrons to adopt an orderly arrangement at low temperatures, and as this module will show, one such possibility is the superconducting state. I shall discuss the observed phenomena of superconductivity, including zero resistance, perfect diamagnetism, lack of entropy, and electron interference effects. These will be used to support the macroscopic theoretical understanding of superconductivity, and will lead to a description of key elements of the BCS microscopic theory of superconductivity. As well as discussing features of superconductors that are important in applications, such as high-field electromagnets, radio-frequency filters, SQUID magnetometers and superconducting electronics, I shall describe some important experiments in superconductivity research, several of which have been performed in Birmingham. |