This handbook is about a remarkable set of materials that are technically referred to as "mesoscopic superconductors", which for all practical purposes are tiny or small in their dimensions, ranging from a few micrometers down to a nanometer. At this level of smallness, the superconducting properties are dramatically changed, showing the dominance of quantum effects. Ground breaking research studies of small superconductors have emerged, and in a world obsessed with miniaturization of electronic device technology, small superconductors acquire even greater relevance and timeliness for the development of exciting novel quantum devices. The chapters, contributed by noted researchers and frontrunners in the field from 15 countries, are presented in three parts, namely progress in basic studies, materials specific research, and advances in nanodevices. The contents of the handbook should be of immediate interest to advanced level university students and researchers particularly in physics, materials science, nanoscience and engineering departments. Various reviews and overviews appearing in the book should answer the queries and curiosities of non-specialists interested in nanoscale superconductivity. At the start, the book carries an extended introduction for readers new to the field. The book should also appeal to scientists and engineers from electronic industries interested in knowing the current status of the theory, manufacture, and future of mesoscopic superconductors. In doing so, this volume offers the opportunity to engage with cutting edge research in one of the most exciting fields of physics today and tomorrow.

'Superconductors' is neither about basic aspects of superconductivity nor about its applications, but concentrates mainly on superconducting materials. It is not an encyclopaedia, describing each and every superconductor that exists. Instead, it is about those materials that have represented important milestones in this exciting field, because of their fundamental scientific interest, their technological applications, or the challenges they present (e.g. the magnetic superconductors).

These three volumes are intended to shape the field of nanoscience and technology and will serve as an essential point of reference for cutting-edge research in the field.

This book provides a comparison of the different chemical structures, normal state properties, and simplest superconducting properties of all known classes of layered superconductors. It introduces the three phenomenological models used to describe such systems, and will guide young researchers hoping to produce a room-temperature superconductor.

Advances in nanotechnology have allowed physicists and engineers to miniaturize electronic structures to the limit where finite-size related phenomena start to impact their properties. This book discusses such phenomena and models made for their description. The book starts from the semiclassical description of nonequilibrium effects, details the scattering theory used for quantum transport calculations, and explains the main interference effects. It also describes how to treat fluctuations and correlations, how interactions affect transport through small islands, and how superconductivity modifies these effects. The last two chapters describe new emerging fields related with graphene and nanoelectromechanics. The focus of the book is on the phenomena rather than formalism, but the book still explains in detail the main models constructed for these phenomena. It also introduces a number of electronic devices, including the single-electron transistor, the superconducting tunnel junction refrigerator, and the superconducting quantum bit.

This is a first undergraduate textbook in Solid State Physics or Condensed Matter Physics. While most textbooks on the subject are extremely dry, this book is written to be much more exciting, inspiring, and entertaining.