QUANTITATIVE-DETERMINATION OF PERCENTAGE SUPERCONDUCTOR IN A NEW COMPOUND

This paper discusses the magnetic techniques used to characterize superconductors. It discusses the fundamental material properties which affect these measurements and the extent to which these interfere with the assessment of material quality. In particular the causes of the much less than perfect diamagnetism are analysed and it is argued that the assumption that this is associated with a low proportion of superconductor is frequently wrong. A more likely explanation is a large penetration depth.