= Superconductor
A superconductor is a material in a state of <superconductivity>, characterized by dissipationless steady bulk charge transport in the appropriate regime and the equilibrium magnetic screening of the <Meissner effect>. The state exists only within limits on <temperature>, <magnetic field> and <electric current>.
A zero measured <electrical resistance> is an important transport signature, but magnetic measurements distinguish superconductivity from the idealized <perfect conductor>. <Type-I superconductors> and <type-II superconductors> differ in their equilibrium response to increasing <magnetic field>; a type-II material can remain superconducting while containing <Abrikosov vortices>. <Superconducting magnets> exploit persistent <electric currents>, while superconducting circuits exploit the <Josephson effect>. A material's useful operating range also depends on processing, geometry and <flux pinning>, not solely on its transition <temperature>.
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