Anomalous Surface Impedance due to Odd-frequency Cooper Pairs

We discuss dynamical response of odd-frequency Cooper pairs to electromagnetic field. By using the quasiclassical Green function method, we calculate the surface impedance (Z=R-iX) of a normal metal thin film which covers a superconductor. In contrast to the standard relation (i.e., R << X), the surface impedance in spin-triplet proximity structures shows anomalous behavior (i.e., R>X) at low temperatures. This unusual relation is a result of the penetration of odd-frequency pairs into the normal metal and reflects the negative Cooper pair density.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures embede

Proximity effect in planar superconducting tunnel junctions containing Nb/NiCu superconductor/ferromagnet bilayers

We present experimental results concerning both the fabrication and characterization of superconducting tunnel junctions containing superconductor/ferromagnet (S/F) bilayers made by niobium (S) and a weak ferromagnetic Ni0.50Cu0.50 alloy. Josephson junctions have been characterized down to T=1.4 K in terms of current-voltage I-V characteristics and Josephson critical current versus magnetic field. By means of a numerical deconvolution of the I-V data the electronic density of states on both sides of the S/F bilayer has been evaluated at low temperatures. Results have been compared with theoretical predictions from a proximity model for S/F bilayers in the dirty limit in the framework of Usadel equations for the S and F layers, respectively. The main physical parameters characterizing the proximity effect in the Nb/NiCu bilayer, such as the coherence length and the exchange field energy of the F metal, and the S/F interface parameters have been also estimated

Nonmonotonic critical temperature in superconductor ferromagnet bilayers

The critical temperature Tc of a superconductor/ferromagnet (SF) bilayer can exhibit nonmonotonic dependence on the thickness df of the F layer. SF systems have been studied for a long time; according to the experimental situation, a ¿dirty¿ limit is often considered which implies that the mean free path in the layers is the second smallest spatial scale after the Fermi wavelength. However, all calculations reported for the dirty limit were done with some additional assumptions, which can be violated in actual experiments. Therefore, we develop a general method (to be exact, two independent methods) for investigating Tc as a function of the bilayer parameters in the dirty case. Comparing our theory with experiment, we obtain good agreement. In the general case, we observe three characteristic types of Tc(df) behavior: (1) a nonmonotonic decay of Tc to a finite value exhibiting a minimum at particular df; (2) a reentrant behavior, characterized by a vanishing of Tc in a certain interval of df and finite values otherwise; and (3) a monotonic decay of Tc and a vanishing at finite df. Qualitatively, the nonmonotonic behavior of Tc(df) is explained by the interference of quasiparticles in the F layer, which can be either constructive or destructive depending on the value of df

Role of Interface Transparency and Exchange Field in the Superconducting Triplet Spin-Valve Effect

We study the superconducting transition temperature Tc of F2/F1/S trilayers (Fi is a metallic ferromagnet, S is a s-superconductor), where the long-range triplet superconducting component is generated at canted magnetizations of the F layers. In this paper we show that it is possible to realize different spin-valve effect modes - the standard switching effect, the triplet spin-valve effect, reentrant Tc(α) dependence or reentrant Tc(α) dependence with the inverse switching effect - by variation of the F2/F1 interface transparency or the exchange splitting energy. In addition, we show that positionof the Tc minimum can be changed by joint variation of the F2/F1 interface transparency and the layerthicknesses