An ideally hard superconductor is a

type II superconductor In superconductivity, a type-II superconductor is a superconductor that exhibits an intermediate phase of mixed ordinary and superconducting properties at intermediate temperature and fields above the superconducting phases. It also features the ...

material with an infinite

pinning force Pinning force is a force acting on a pinned object from a pinning center. In solid state physics, this most often refers to the vortex pinning, the pinning of the magnetic vortices ( magnetic flux quanta, Abrikosov vortices) by different kinds of t ...

. In the external magnetic field it behaves like an ideal

diamagnet Diamagnetic materials are repelled by a magnetic field; an applied magnetic field creates an induced magnetic field in them in the opposite direction, causing a repulsive force. In contrast, paramagnetic and ferromagnetic materials are attract ...

if the field is switched on when the material is in the superconducting state, so-called "zero field cooled" (ZFC) regime. In the field cooled (FC) regime, the ideally hard superconductor screens perfectly the change of the magnetic field rather than the magnetic field itself. Its magnetization behavior can be described by

Bean's critical state model Bean's critical state model, introduced by C. P. Bean in 1962, gives a macroscopic explanation of the irreversible magnetization behavior ( hysteresis) of hard Type-II superconductors. Assumptions Hard superconductors often exhibit hysteresis ...

. The ideally hard superconductor is a good

approximation An approximation is anything that is intentionally similar but not exactly equality (mathematics), equal to something else. Etymology and usage The word ''approximation'' is derived from Latin ''approximatus'', from ''proximus'' meaning ''very ...

for the melt-textured

high temperature superconductors High-temperature superconductors (abbreviated high-c or HTS) are defined as materials that behave as superconductors at temperatures above , the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. The adjective "high temperature" is only in respect to previo ...

( HTSC) used in large scale HTSC applications such as

flywheels A flywheel is a mechanical device which uses the conservation of angular momentum to store rotational energy; a form of kinetic energy proportional to the product of its moment of inertia and the square of its rotational speed. In particular, ass ...

, HTSC bearings, HTSC motors, etc.

References

Superconductivity Magnetism {{Physics-stub

See also

References