Condensed Cooper Pairs and Macroscopic Quantum Phenomena

Yang Yu

Electrons in a superconductor form Cooper pairs and thus condense into a ground state which can be described by a macroscopic quantum wavefunction. The phase of the wavefunction represents a collective movement of millions of Cooper pairs. Using devices based on Josephson tunnel junctions we are able to control and detect the phase and number of Cooper pairs in a superconductor. Josephson devices are therefore excellent systems for demonstrating macroscopic quantum phenomena. We present a short review of the macroscopic quantum phenomena in superconducting Josephson devices, as well as their applications and prospects in quantum computationl.

Andrei D. Zaikin

Anthony J. Leggett

Starting from first principles, this book introduces the closely related phenomena of Bose condensation and Cooper pairing, in which a very large number of single particles or pairs of particles are forced to behave in exactly the same way, and explores their consequences in condensed matter systems. Eschewing advanced formal methods, the author uses simple concepts and arguments to account for the various qualitatively new phenomena which occur in Bose-condensed and Cooper-pairedsystems, including but not limited to the spectacular macroscopic phenomena of superconductivity and superfluidity.

Carlos Ramírez García, Chumín Wang

Anthony J. Leggett

As we all know, single microscopic particles such as electrons or atoms do not behave according to the familiar classical (Newtonian) physics which describes the everyday world, but rather according to the prescriptions of quantum mechanics, the outcome is often bizarre and counterintuitive. When a macroscopic number of such particles (say ∼ 10) is assembled under conditions where the effects of quantum mechanics are important, the results can be even more spectacular; they include macroscopic phenomena such as superfluidity and superconductivity, which are completely impossible to explain in classical terms. Most, though not all of these exotic phenomena, are a result of a phenomenon which I shall refer to generically as “quantum condensation,” in which a macroscopic number of particles or pairs of particles—a nonzero fraction of all particles present—occupy a single quantum state; this phenomenon is traditionally referred to as Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) when it occurs in a system of bosons such as liquid He, and as Cooper pairing when it occurs, for pairs of particles, in a system of fermions such as the electrons in a superconducting metal. As a result of quantum condensation, the characteristically quantum-mechanical behavior which we are used to seeing at the level of single electrons is as it were amplified by the cooperation of condensed particles and can manifest itself at the macroscopic level. The present essay is intended as a general introduction to the subject of quantum condensation and its consequences, as manifested in a variety of physical systems. I will try to review the fundamental physical ideas, usually without de-

P. Silvestrini