Superconductor spintronics: Modeling spin and charge accumulation in out-of-equilibrium NS junctions subjected to Zeeman magnetic fields

We study the spin and charge accumulation in junctions between a superconductor and a ferromagnet or a normal metal in the presence of a Zeeman magnetic field, when the junction is taken out of equilibrium by applying a voltage bias. We write down the most general form for the spin and charge current in such junctions, taking into account all spin-resolved possible tunneling processes. We make use of these forms to calculate the spin accumulation in NS junctions subjected to a DC bias, and to an AC bias, sinusoidal or rectangular. We observe that in the limit of negligeable changes on the superconducting gap, the NS dynamical conductance is insensitive to spin imbalance. Therefore to probe the spin accumulation in the superconductor, one needs to separate the injection and detection point, i. e. the electrical spin detection must be non-local. We address also the effect of the spin accumulation induced in the normal leads by driving a spin current and its effects on the detection of the spin accumulation in the superconductor. Finally, we investigate the out-of-equilibrium spin susceptibility of the SC, and we show that it deviates drastically from it's equilibrium value

Atomic manipulation of the gap in Bi2_{2}Sr2_{2}CaCu2_{2}O8+x_{8+x}

Single atom manipulation within doped correlated electron systems would be highly beneficial to disentangle the influence of dopants, structural defects and crystallographic characteristics on their local electronic states. Unfortunately, their high diffusion barrier prevents conventional manipulation techniques. Here, we demonstrate the possibility to reversibly manipulate select sites in the optimally doped high temperature superconductor Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+x}$ using the local electric field of the tip. We show that upon shifting individual Bi atoms at the surface, the spectral gap associated with superconductivity is seen to reversibly change by as much as 15 meV (~5% of the total gap size). Our toy model that captures all observed characteristics suggests the field induces lateral movement of point-like objects that create a local pairing potential in the CuO2 plane.Comment: Published in Science, this is the originally submitted manuscript prior to changes during the review proces

Evidence for Two Time Scales in Long SNS Junctions

We use microwave excitation to elucidate the dynamics of long superconductor / normal metal / superconductor Josephson junctions. By varying the excitation frequency in the range 10 MHz - 40 GHz, we observe that the critical and retrapping currents, deduced from the dc voltage vs. dc current characteristics of the junction, are set by two different time scales. The critical current increases when the ac frequency is larger than the inverse diffusion time in the normal metal, whereas the retrapping current is strongly modified when the excitation frequency is above the electron-phonon rate in the normal metal. Therefore the critical and retrapping currents are associated with elastic and inelastic scattering, respectively

High-Quality Planar high-Tc Josephson Junctions

Reproducible high-Tc Josephson junctions have been made in a rather simple two-step process using ion irradiation. A microbridge (1 to 5 ?m wide) is firstly designed by ion irradiating a c-axis-oriented YBa2Cu3O7-? film through a gold mask such as the non-protected part becomes insulating. A lower Tc part is then defined within the bridge by irradiating with a much lower fluence through a narrow slit (20 nm) opened in a standard electronic photoresist. These planar junctions, whose settings can be finely tuned, exhibit reproducible and nearly ideal Josephson characteristics. This process can be used to produce complex Josephson circuits.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Applied Physics Letter

Bistability in superconducting rings containing an inhomogeneous Josephson junction

We investigate the magnetic response of a superconducting Nb ring containing a ferromagnetic PdNi Josephson junction and a tunnel junction in parallel. A doubling of the switching frequency is observed within certain intervals of the external magnetic field. Assuming sinusoidal current-phase relations of both junctions our model of a dc-SQUID embedded within a superconducting ring explains this feature by a sequence of current reversals in the ferromagnetic section of the junction in these field intervals. The switching anomalies are induced by the coupling between the magnetic fluxes in the two superconducting loops.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure