The Ubiquitous SQUID

01:15:33

Description
Superconducting electronics was born in a remarkably short, three-year period that began one-half century after the discovery of superconductivity. The crucial steps were the observation of flux quantization in 1961, the prediction and observation of Josephson tunneling in 1962 and 1963, respectively, and the demonstration of quantum interference in a superconducting ring containing two Josephson junctions in 1964. The first practical SQUIDs (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices) were primitive by today’s standards, and included machined, point-contact junctions and a blob of solder frozen around a length of niobium wire. Today’s SQUIDs, fabricated from patterned, multilayer thin films on silicon wafers, offer extraordinary sensitivity to magnetic flux. SQUIDs are amazingly diverse, with applications that include physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, materials science, geophysics, cosmology and quantum information. I describe experiments to search for the axion—a candidate particle for cold dark matter— and to perform magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in magnetic fields of typically 100 microtesla, four orders of magnitude below that for conventional MRI systems.

Description

Superconducting electronics was born in a remarkably short, three-year period that began one-half century after the discovery of superconductivity. The crucial steps were the observation of flux quantization in 1961, the prediction and observation of Josephson tunneling in 1962 and 1963, respectively, and the demonstration of quantum interference in a superconducting ring containing two Josephson junctions in 1964. The first practical SQUIDs (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices) were primitive by today’s standards, and included machined, point-contact junctions and a blob of solder frozen around a length of niobium wire. Today’s SQUIDs, fabricated from patterned, multilayer thin films on silicon wafers, offer extraordinary sensitivity to magnetic flux. SQUIDs are amazingly diverse, with applications that include physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, materials science, geophysics, cosmology and quantum information. I describe experiments to search for the axion—a candidate particle for cold dark matter— and to perform magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in magnetic fields of typically 100 microtesla, four orders of magnitude below that for conventional MRI systems.

Details
Title	The Ubiquitous SQUID
Creator	University of California, Berkeley. Dept. of Physics
Published	Berkeley, CA, University of California, Berkeley, Dept. of Physics, January 22, 2018
Full Collection Name	Physics Colloquia
Type	Video
Format	Lecture.
Extent	1 streaming video file
Other Physical Details	digital, sd., col.
Archive	Physics Library
Note	Recorded at a colloquium held on January 22, 2018, sponsored by the Dept. of Physics, University of California, Berkeley. originally produced as an .mts file in 2018 Speakers: John Clarke.
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Collection	Physics Colloquia
Tracks	colloquia/1-22-18Clarke.mp4 01:15:33
Linked Resources	View record in Digital Collections.

The Ubiquitous SQUID

Description

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