Bednorz-Müller experiment 2026-10-18
In 1986, Johannes Georg Bednorz and Karl Alexander Müller precipitated mixed oxalates from aqueous barium, lanthanum and copper nitrates using oxalic acid. Heating at for five hours preceded pressing at and reheating for sintering. X-ray diffraction resolved three phases. Rectangular pieces carried gold electrodes and indium wires; four-terminal sensing in a continuous-flow cryostat measured electrical resistance versus temperature. Annealing atmosphere and measuring electric current density were varied; larger electric current densities suppressed the drop. An onset near differed from the much lower temperature where the drop approached three orders of magnitude.[ref]
This was evidence for possible granular superconductivity, with phase identification unfinished. The paper deferred Meissner effect and heat capacity tests; its proof note corrected bulk lanthanum/barium ratios. A resistive onset did not establish a uniform bulk superconducting transition temperature.[ref]
Possible high Tc superconductivity in the Ba-La-Cu-O system by Johannes Georg Bednorz and Karl Alexander Müller. §IV, p.192; proof note, p.193
Their 1987 authored lecture describes later magnetometer checks on lead, followed by magnetic susceptibility measurements: samples with a resistive drop developed diamagnetism at somewhat lower temperatures. Combining magnetic, transport and X-ray diffraction results identified barium-substituted as the superconducting phase. These later results strengthened the case beyond the initial mixed-phase transport evidence.[ref]
Diamagnetism 2026-10-18
Diamagnetism is a magnetic response in which the induced magnetization opposes the applied magnetic field intensity. In a linear isotropic description, with negative magnetic susceptibility .
For weak fields in a linear isotropic material, magnetization is , with magnetic susceptibility . Paramagnetism has , while diamagnetism has . In either case, . These weak responses generally disappear when the applied field is removed, unlike hysteretic ferromagnetism.
A paramagnet can contain permanent magnetic moments from unpaired Electrons or atomic angular momentum. Alignment lowers the energy , while thermal disorder opposes it. For independent classical moments of magnitude , their weak-field average projection is , soThis is Curie's law; it assumes weak magnetization and no important interactions between moments. With quantum angular momentum , replace by . Strong-field magnetization saturates instead of growing linearly without limit. Conduction Electrons also exhibit Pauli paramagnetism: only occupations near the Fermi surface readily redistribute between spin states, giving a nearly temperature-independent susceptibility when .
Diamagnetism is an induced orbital response opposing the applied magnetic field. For bound Electrons, a weak field changes orbital motion and induces an opposing magnetic moment. For an isotropic collection of atoms, the elementary orbital estimate iswhere the sum runs over the Electrons of one atom. It is usually small and weakly temperature dependent. Delocalized Electrons also have orbital Landau diamagnetism; for an ideal three-dimensional free Electron gas with a quadratic isotropic dispersion and electron spin with , . Both spin and orbital contributions must be included to determine the total response. Diamagnetism is not a consequence of permanent dipoles choosing to align against the field; that orientation would increase their energy.
Past exam of the physics B course of the University of Cambridge 2019 Paper 2 Section B B7 Solution 2026-10-18
Magnetization and field response. A magnetic material contains microscopic magnetic moments associated with Electron spin and orbital motion. The magnetization is magnetic dipole moment per unit volume. In SI the macroscopic fields satisfyHere separates free-current excitation from the material response. A uniform isotropic linear material has , givingThis constant scalar magnetic permeability model is useful only within its linear range. Crystals can have a susceptibility tensor; strongly magnetic materials depend on field and magnetic history. For a finite specimen the internal also includes its demagnetizing field. In a uniformly magnetized ellipsoid, along a principal axis, so sample shape affects the apparent susceptibility.
Diamagnetic and paramagnetic response. Diamagnetism is a weak negative susceptibility caused by induced orbital response opposing the applied field. It occurs in all matter but can be masked by larger positive contributions. Closed-shell materials such as bismuth or many organic compounds show it clearly. Ordinary diamagnetism is often only weakly temperature dependent; superconducting flux exclusion is a separate collective phenomenon and is not described by an arbitrarily small negative susceptibility.
Paramagnetism arises when available magnetic moments partially align with a field. Thermal disorder prevents complete alignment at weak fields. For independent localized moments of magnitude , the classical weak-field result iswhere the second expression uses in a weakly magnetic sample. Thus localized moments obey a Curie law in this regime. Quantum angular momentum changes the coefficient to the appropriate expression and gives saturation at strong field. Conduction Electrons instead exhibit Pauli paramagnetism: only states near the Fermi surface can change spin populations, so a degenerate gas has a nearly temperature-independent response. Its orbital diamagnetism must also be included for a full metallic susceptibility.
Collective magnetic order. Exchange interactions can favor parallel alignment, producing ferromagnetism below the Curie temperature. Iron, cobalt and nickel are familiar examples. A material may contain regions of spontaneous magnetization, or magnetic domains, while having little net external moment because the domains point in different directions. Applied fields move domain walls and rotate moments; at large fields the magnetization approaches saturation. Pinning and energy barriers make this process hysteretic. Remanence is the magnetization left after removing the driving field, and coercivity measures the reverse field needed to bring the chosen response back to zero.
The area of a closed – loop is the energy dissipated per unit volume per quasistatic cycle, , with positive dissipated magnitude. Consequently the magnetic permeability is neither one universal constant nor enough information to describe a ferromagnet: differential magnetic permeability , saturation and hysteresis all matter. Above the ordering temperature the spontaneous moment disappears, and a Curie–Weiss law is often an appropriate approximate paramagnetic description away from the critical region.
In antiferromagnetism, ordered opposing sublattices have equal moments and cancel macroscopically in the ideal compensated case. The order disappears above the Néel temperature. In ferrimagnetism, opposing sublattices have unequal moments and leave a net magnetization. Ferrites combine ferrimagnetic response with relatively high electrical resistivity, making them valuable when eddy-current losses would be substantial in a metallic core.
Electromagnets and engineering choice. A coil supplies free-current magnetomotive force . For a simple uniform magnetic path, Ampère's law gives and flux . A high-magnetic permeability soft magnetic core concentrates flux and reduces the current required for a given field. With an air gap ,Even a short gap can dominate the magnetic reluctance. The approximate attractive force across one uniform gap is , obtained from the field energy, with fringing neglected.
Soft magnetic materials have small coercivity and narrow hysteresis loops; they suit relays, electrical transformer cores and controllable electromagnets. Hard magnetic materials retain their magnetization and suit permanent magnets. Laminating metallic cores breaks large eddy-current loops; ferrites are useful at higher frequencies because of their resistivity. Increasing current cannot increase indefinitely through the linear formula: core saturation, coil heating and leakage limit performance. A good design selects material for the field amplitude, switching frequency and acceptable loss, rather than simply choosing the largest quoted magnetic permeability.
In the small-body approximation, write , with . The induced magnetic dipole moment is . Its effective interaction potential energy at fixed source current isThe factor accounts for inducing the moment: differentiating as if the moment were permanent would double the force. Equivalently, the instantaneous dipole force is . Thus the force on a small linearly magnetizable body isFrom part (b), . HenceFor the ideal slender rod, . If the source's printed magnetisation is imposed instead, its corresponding conditional answer isFor and , both expressions point toward the loop, where the applied magnetic field is stronger; for the direction reverses toward the loop plane. A material with diamagnetism, , reverses this attraction. The force is in newtons, since a magnetic dipole moment times a field gradient has units . Both formulas assume linear response, negligible saturation and approximately uniform applied field across the sample.
Past exam of the quantum condensed matter course of the University of Cambridge 2012 2 c Solution 2026-10-18
In a weak applied field, magnetic susceptibility relates magnetization to magnetic field intensity, . Its sign, temperature dependence and nonlinear field dependence distinguish several mechanisms.
Diamagnetism is the orbital response opposing an applied magnetic field, with . Closed-shell atoms and filled bands generally give a weak, nearly temperature-independent response. In a simple free Electron metal, Landau diamagnetism contributes ; the factor is specific to the isotropic parabolic-band model and is not universal in crystals.
Paramagnetism gives . Localized magnetic moments align statistically with the field against thermal disorder. For independent moments of angular momentum ,which is the Curie law. Exchange interactions often lead approximately to the Curie–Weiss law, , sufficiently far above any ordering temperature. The sign of suggests predominantly parallel or antiparallel exchange, though it is not a complete classification. Conduction Electrons instead exhibit Pauli paramagnetism:for and a spin-summed density of states per unit volume. Only states close to the Fermi energy change occupation, making this response nearly temperature independent when .
Ferromagnetism has spontaneous parallel magnetic order below a Curie temperature. Exchange interaction, not simply classical dipole attraction, provides the dominant alignment mechanism. In the convention , positive favours alignment. Magnetic domains can make a ferromagnet's total magnetization vanish before an external field aligns its domains. Domain motion and anisotropy produce saturation, hysteresis, remanent magnetization and a reverse field measured by magnetic coercivity.
Qualitative linear magnetic responses and a ferromagnetic hysteresis loop
. Details. Antiferromagnetism has oppositely ordered sublattices below a Néel temperature; equal opposing moments give zero net magnetization while retaining a nonzero staggered order parameter. A susceptibility anomaly and magnetic neutron diffraction reveal this order even when bulk magnetization vanishes. Ferrimagnetism also has opposing sublattices but unequal contributions, giving a nonzero spontaneous net moment. Above their ordering temperatures both can become paramagnetic. Measurements with a magnetometer as a function of field and temperature, supplemented by magnetic diffraction, therefore distinguishes a compensated ordered material from an ordinary paramagnet.
The 1935 primary paper The Spin-Isomerization of Hydrogen at Paramagnetic and Diamagnetic Surfaces, pp. 1251–1252, describes evacuated catalyst samples cooled before admitting molecular hydrogen. Gas samples were analyzed in a glass cell in liquid air: a heated platinum wire and Wheatstone bridge converted changes in thermal conductivity into electrical resistance readings, calibrated against normal hydrogen.[ref]
The Spin-Isomerization of Hydrogen at Paramagnetic and Diamagnetic Surfaces by Hugh Stott Taylor and H. Diamond. p. 1251, Experimental Details: sample handling and heated-wire thermal-conductivity analysis
Its comparison of oxide surfaces supplied a control: specimens exhibiting strong paramagnetism converted the gas much faster than the comparison exhibiting diamagnetism despite all adsorbing molecular hydrogen. Contact time, pressure, and temperature were recorded. This supports a role for surface magnetic properties beyond adsorption alone; it does not identify every microscopic surface site or directly measure nuclear-spin orientations.[ref]
The Spin-Isomerization of Hydrogen at Paramagnetic and Diamagnetic Surfaces by Hugh Stott Taylor and H. Diamond. p. 1252, Table I description and Discussion of Results: rare-earth oxide comparison and adsorption qualification
The inference chain is preparation, contact with a specified surface, then a calibrated bulk transport readout of composition. It is distinct from a direct calorimetry measurement of heat capacity: transport and heat capacity can both depend on the spin populations, but they are different measured quantities. Changing the catalyst's own surface structure, introducing magnetic impurities, or changing the detector's gas pressure can confound an uncalibrated comparison. The free-rotor partition functions predict equilibrium populations and stored energy, not the conversion rate on a particular surface.
