The supercooling effect in superconductors close to the transition temperature

Abstract

The extent to which a superconducting metal can be supercooled is usually limited by the presence of flaws, which act as centres for nucleation. Close to the transition temperature, however, the flaws are too small to be effective, and the supercooling which is then observed appears to be characteristic of the ideal metal. This ideal supercooling has now been accurately measured for aluminium, indium, and tin, with the object of testing the various phenomenological theories of superconductivity which have lately been proposed. None of the theories is found to be completely successful.