Department of Physics
Condensed Matter Seminar

After 50 years, the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory of superconductivity is one of the most remarkable accomplishments of theoretical physics. Not only did it explain most of the remarkable properties of metallic superconductors with exquisite precision, it also gives us a detailed description of the behavior of electrons in the superconducting state. Angle resolved photoemission (ARPES), which measures the excitation spectrum of electrons, allows us to rather directly visualize the unusual behavior of superconducting electrons. Once the high temperature superconductors were discovered, experiments soon started showing some significant deviations from the expected BCS behavior. After introducing the angle resolved photoemission experiments, I will highlight some of the similarities and differences between the behavior of electrons in the BCS paradigm and in the high temperature superconductors.