20 research outputs found
Enhancement of the Josephson current by magnetic field in superconducting tunnel structures with paramagnetic spacer
The dc Josephson critical current of a (S/M)IS tunnel structure in a parallel
magnetic field has been investigated (here S is a superconductor, S/M is the
proximity coupled S and paramagnet M bilayer and I is an insulating barrier).
We consider the case when, due to the Hund's rule, in the M metal the effective
molecular interaction aligns spins of the conducting electrons antiparallel to
localized spins of magnetic ions. It is predicted that for tunnel structures
under consideration there are the conditions when the destructive action of the
internal and the applied magnetic fields on Cooper pairs is weakened and the
increase of the applied magnetic field causes the field-induced enhancement of
the tunnel critical current. The experimental realization of this interesting
effect of the interplay between superconductivity and magnetism is also
discussed.Comment: 5 pages 3 figure
Josephson current in a superconductor-ferromagnet junction with two non-collinear magnetic domains
We study the Josephson effect in a
superconductor--ferromagnet--superconductor (SFS) junction with ferromagnetic
domains of non-collinear magnetization. As a model for our study we consider a
diffusive junction with two ferromagnetic domains along the junction. The
superconductor is assumed to be close to the critical temperature , and
the linearized Usadel equations predict a sinusoidal current-phase relation. We
find analytically the critical current as a function of domain lengths and of
the angle between the orientations of their magnetizations. As a function of
those parameters, the junction may undergo transitions between 0 and
phases. We find that the presence of domains reduces the range of junction
lengths at which the phase is observed. For the junction with two domains
of the same length, the phase totally disappears as soon as the
misorientation angle exceeds . We further comment on possible
implication of our results for experimentally observable 0-- transitions
in SFS junctions.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, minor changes, references adde
Inhomogeneous magnetism induced in a superconductor at superconductor-ferromagnet interface
We study a magnetic proximity effect at superconductor (S) - ferromagnet (F)
interface. It is shown that due to an exchange of electrons between the F and S
metals ferromagnetic correlations extend into the superconductor, being
dependent on interface parameters. We show that ferromagnetic exchange field
pair breaking effect leads to a formation of subgap bands in the S layer local
density of states, that accommodate only one spin-polarized quasiparticles.
Equilibrium magnetization leakage into the S layer as function of SF interface
quality and a value of ferromagnetic interaction have also been calculated. We
show that a damped-oscillatory behavior versus distance from SF interface is a
distinguished feature of the exchange-induced magnetization of the S layer.Comment: 10 pages, 7 Postscript figure
Josephson Current in S-FIF-S Junctions: Nonmonotonic Dependence on Misorientation Angle
Spectra and spin structures of Andreev interface states in S-FIF-S junctions
are investigated with emphasis on finite transparency and misorientation angle
between in-plane magnetizations of ferromagnetic layers in a three-layer
interface. It is demonstrated that the Josephson current in S-FIF-S quantum
point contacts can exhibit a nonmonotonic dependence on the misorientation
angle. The characteristic behavior takes place, if the pi-state is the
equilibrium state of the junction in the particular case of parallel
magnetizations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Manifestation of triplet superconductivity in superconductor-ferromagnet structures
We study proximity effects in a multilayered superconductor/ferromagnet (S/F)
structure with arbitrary relative directions of the magnetization . If
the magnetizations of different layers are collinear the superconducting
condensate function induced in the F layers has only a singlet component and a
triplet one with a zero projection of the total magnetic moment of the Cooper
pairs on the direction. In this case the condensate penetrates the F
layers over a short length determined by the exchange energy . If
the magnetizations are not collinear the triplet component has, in
addition to the zero projection, the projections . The latter component
is even in the momentum, odd in the Matsubara frequency and penetrates the F
layers over a long distance that increases with decreasing temperature and does
not depend on (spin-orbit interaction limits this length). If the thickness
of the F layers is much larger than , the Josephson coupling between
neighboring S layers is provided only by the triplet component, so that a new
type of superconductivity arises in the transverse direction of the structure.
The Josephson critical current is positive (negative) for the case of a
positive (negative) chirality of the vector . We demonstrate that this
type of the triplet condensate can be detected also by measuring the density of
states in F/S/F structures.Comment: 14 pages; 9 figures. Final version, to be published in Phys. Rev.