Book Description

This two-volume handbook offers a comprehensive and coordinated presentation of SQUIDs (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices), including device fundamentals, design, technology, system construction and multiple applications. It is intended to bridge the gap between fundamentals and applications, and will be a valuable textbook reference for graduate students and for professionals engaged in SQUID research and engineering. It will be also of use to specialists in multiple fields of practical SQUID applications, from human brain research and heart diagnostics to airplane and nuclear plant testing to prospecting for oil, minerals and buried ordnance. The first volume contains chapters presenting the theory of SQUIDs, their fabrication from low- and high-temperature superconductors, the necessary readout electronics, and the design and performance of practical direct current (dc) and radio-frequency (rf) SQUIDs. This volume concludes with an overview of most important SQUID system issues. An appendix summarizes briefly the foundations of superconductivity that are necessary to understand SQUIDs. A glossary and tables of units and constants are also included. The second volume is devoted to applications. It starts with an important aspect of the analysis of measured magnetic signals generated by current sources (the inverse problem), and includes several chapters devoted to various areas of application, namely biomagnetism (research on and diagnostics of human brain, heart, liver, etc.), detection of extremely weak signals, for example, electromagnetic radiation and NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance), measurement of various magnetic and electric properties, from fault detection in semiconductor circuits with SQUID microscopy to NDE (Non-Destructive Evaluation) of materials and structures such as bridges, airplanes and nuclear plant installations, and geomagnetic research and prospecting (including searching for military ordnance). The volume closes with a chapter on motion detectors and the detection of gravity waves.