Properties of tunnel Josephson junctions with a ferromagnetic interlayer

We investigate superconductor/insulator/ferromagnet/superconductor (SIFS) tunnel Josephson junctions in the dirty limit, using the quasiclassical theory. We formulate a quantitative model describing the oscillations of critical current as a function of thickness of the ferromagnetic layer and use this model to fit recent experimental data. We also calculate quantitatively the density of states (DOS) in this type of junctions and compare DOS oscillations with those of the critical current.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Density of states in SF bilayers with arbitrary strength of magnetic scattering

We developed the self-consistent method for the calculation of the density of states $N(\epsilon)$ in the SF bilayers. It based on the quasi-classical Usadel equations and takes into account the suppression of superconductivity in the S layer due to the proximity effect with the F metal, as well as existing mechanisms of the spin dependent electron scattering. We demonstrate that the increase of the spin orbit or spin flip electron scattering rates results in completely different transformations of $N(\epsilon)$ at the free F layer interface. The developed formalism has been applied for the interpretation of the available experimental data.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figure

The current-phase relation in Josephson tunnel junctions

The $J(\phi)$ relation in SFIFS, SNINS and SIS tunnel junctions is studied. The method for analytical solution of linearized Usadel equations has been developed and applied to these structures. It is shown that the Josephson current across the structure has the sum of $\sin \phi$ and $\sin 2\phi$ components. Two different physical mechanisms are responsible for the sign of $\sin 2\phi$. The first one is the depairing by current which contributes positively to the $\sin 2\phi$ term, while the second one is the finite transparency of SF or SN interfaces which provides the negative contribution. In SFIFS junctions, where the first harmonic vanishes at 0 - $\pi$ transition, the calculated second harmonic fully determines the $J(\phi)$ curve.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Manifestation of the odd-frequency spin-triplet pairing state in diffusive ferromagnet / superconductor junctions

Using the quasiclassical Green's function formalism, we study the influence of the odd-frequency spin-triplet superconductivity on the local density of states (LDOS) in a diffusive ferromagnet (DF) attached to a superconductor. Various possible symmetry classes in a superconductor are considered which are consistent with the Pauli's principle: even-frequency spin-singlet even-parity (ESE) state, even-frequency spin-triplet odd-parity (ETO) state, odd-frequency spin-triplet even-parity (OTE) state and odd-frequency spin-singlet odd-parity (OSO) state. For each of these states, the pairing state in DF is studied. Particular attention is paid to the study of spin-singlet s-wave and spin-triplet p-wave superconductors as the examples of ESE and ETO superconductors. For spin-singlet case the magnitude of the OTE component of the pair amplitude is enhanced with the increase of the exchange field in DF. When the OTE component is dominant at low energy, the resulting LDOS in DF has a zero energy peak (ZEP). On the other hand, in DF / spin-triplet p-wave superconductor junctions LDOS has a ZEP in the absence of the exchange field, where only the OTE paring state exists. With the increase of the exchange field, the ESE component of the pair amplitude induced in DF is enhanced. Then, the resulting LDOS has a ZEP splitting. We demonstrate that the appearance of the dominant OTE component of the pair amplitude is the physical reason of the emergence of the ZEP of LDOS.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Impurity scattering in highly anisotropic superconductors and interband sign reversal of the order parameter

We discuss various mechanisms that can lead to interband sign reversal of the order parameter in a multiband superconductor. In particular, we generalize Abrikosov-Gor'kov solution of the problem of weakly coupled superconductor with magnetic and nonmagnetic impurities on the case of arbitary order parameter anisotropy, including extreme cases as $d-$pairing or interband sign reversal of the order parameter, and show that interband scattering by magnetic impurities can stabilize an interband sign-reversal state. We discuss a possibility of such state in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_7$ in the context of various experiments: Josephson tunneling, neutron scattering, isotope effect measurements.Comment: 8 pages, 1 psfig. To be published in materials of 1996 SPIE conference "Spectroscopic Studies of Superconductors". This is a summary of papers cond-mat/9501117, cond-mat/9501118, cond-mat/9502025, cond-mat/9504076. Besides, we derive a formula for Tc suppression by magnetic and nonmagnetic impurities for arbitrary anisotrop

Green function theory of dirty two-band superconductivity

We study the effects of random nonmagnetic impurities on the superconducting transition temperature $T_c$ in a two-band superconductor, where we assume the equal-time spin-singlet s-wave pair potential in each conduction band and the hybridization between the two bands as well as the band asymmetry. In the clean limit, the phase of hybridization determines the stability of two states: called $s_{++}$ and $s_{+-}$. The interband impurity scatterings decrease $T_c$ of the two states exactly in the same manner when the Hamiltonian preserves time-reversal symmetry. We find that a superconductor with larger hybridization shows more moderate suppression of $T_c$. This effect can be explained by the presence of odd-frequency Cooper pairs which are generated by the band hybridization in the clean limit and are broken by impurities.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure

Observability of surface Andreev bound states in a topological insulator in proximity to an s-wave superconductor

To guide experimental work on the search for Majorana zero-energy modes, we calculate the superconducting pairing symmetry of a three-dimensional topological insulator in combination with an s-wave superconductor. In analogy to the case of nanowires with strong spin-orbit coupling we show how the pairing symmetry changes across different topological regimes. We demonstrate that a dominant p-wave pairing relation is not sufficient to realize a Majorana zero-energy mode useful for quantum computation. Our main result of this paper is the relation between odd-frequency pairing and Majorana zero energy modes by using Green functions techniques in three-dimensional topological insulators in the so-called Majorana regime. We discuss thereafter how the pairing relations in the different regimes can be observed in the shape of the tunneling conductance of an s-wave proximized three-dimensional topological insulator. We will discuss the necessity to incorporate a ferromagnetic insulator to localize the zero-energy bound state to the interface as a Majorana mode.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matte