Mechanisms of conventional and high Tc superconductivity

This book gives a careful and objective review of theories of superconductivity in traditional superconductors, organics, and high Tc cuprates. Of course, the authors do still present their own theories of cuprate superconductivity, but only in the final chapter after other possibilities have been discussed. The book should be especially useful for researchers entering the field of high Tc superconductivity. The reviews of photon mediated pairing and strong coupling theory are very welcome, since much of this material has not been reviewed since the classic 1969 volume edited by Parks. In particular the authors dispel the various myths that phonon mediated pairing leads to upper bounds on Tc. In addition to phonon mediated pairing the book discussed in detail pairing due to exchange of acoustic (demon) plasmons, excitons, or magnetic fluctuations. There have been so many diverse mechanisms based on strong correlation and large U Hubbard models that a book like this can only discuss a limited selection of the main contenders. In particular here the emphasis on Fermi liquid based models no doubt reflects the authors' own point of view. A whole chapter discusses the concepts of induced superconductivity, in the proximity effect, and its application to materials with several different electronic subsystems