SECOND ORDER PHASE TRANSITIONS

摘要

The behavior of a superconducting sample in the presence of an applied magnetic field is considered. We focus on the nature of the normal/superconducting phase transition and explore the stability of the superconducting state when the sample is 'thin' in some direction. Then we discuss the asymptotic behavior of the critical temperature/field relationship and that of the bifurcating order parameter in the large field regime. Throughout, we emphasize the role of the sample geometry.