Enhancement of Superconductivity by Exchange Bias

In this work we study the transport properties of hybrids that consist of exchange biased ferromagnets (FMs) combined with a low-Tc superconductor (SC). Not only different FMs but also various structural topologies have been investigated: results for multilayers of La(1-x)CaxMnO3 combined with Nb in the form of [La0.33Ca0.67MnO3/La0.60Ca0.40MnO3]15/Nb, and for more simple Ni80Fe20/Nb/Ni80Fe20 trilayers and Ni80Fe20/Nb bilayers are presented. The results obtained in all hybrid structures studied in this work clearly uncover that the exchange bias mechanism promotes superconductivity. Our findings assist the understanding of the contradictory results that have been reported in the recent literature regarding the transport properties of relative FM/SC/FM spin valves

Giant increase in critical current density of KxFe2-ySe2 single crystals

By using post-annealing and quenching technique, we show that the critical current density Jc,ab of KxFe2-ySe2 single crystals can be enhanced more than one order of magnitude up to ~ 2.1 \times 10^4 A/cm^2 at 1.8 K. The scaling law between normalized pinning force and reduced field for all measured temperatures was observed, reflecting the presence of only one dominant pinning mechanism. Analysis indicates presence of 3D point-like normal core pinning sources in quenched KxFe2-ySe2 samples whereas dominant vortex interaction with pinning centers is via spatial variations in Tc ("deltaTc pinning").Comment: 3 figures, 4 page

Effective ferromagnetic coupling between a superconductor and a ferromagnet in LaCaMnO/Nb hybrids

In this work we present magnetization data on hybrids consisting of multilayers (MLs) of man- ganites [La0.33Ca0.67MnO3/La0.60Ca0.40MnO3]15 in contact with a low-Tc Nb superconductor (SC). Although a pure SC should behave diamagnetically in respect to the external magnetic field in our ML-SC hybrids we observed that the magnetization of the SC follows that of the ML. Our intriguing experimental results show that the SC below its TSC c becomes ferromagnetically coupled to the ML. As a result in the regime where diamagnetic behaviour of the SC was expected its bulk magne- tization switches only whenever the coercive field of the ML is exceeded. By employing specific experiments where the ML was selectively biased or not we demonstrate that the ML inflicts its magnetic properties on the whole hybrid. Possible explanations are discussed in connection to recent theoretical proposals and experimental findings that were obtained in relative hybrids.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.

11^{11}B NMR detection of the magnetic field distribution in the mixed superconducting state of MgB2_2

The temperature dependence of the magnetic field distribution in the mixed superconducting phase of randomly oriented MgB$_2$ powder was probed by $^{11}$B NMR spectroscopy. Below the temperature of the second critical ($B_{{c2}}$) field, $T_{{c2}}\approx 27$K, our spectra reveal two NMR signal components, one mapping the magnetic field distribution in the mixed superconducting state and the other one arising from the normal state. The complementary use of bulk magnetization and NMR measurements reveals that MgB$_2$ is an anisotropic superconductor with a $B_{c2}^c<2.35$ Tesla anisotropy parameter $\gamma\approx 6$

11^{11}B and 27^{27}Al NMR spin-lattice relaxation and Knight shift study of Mg1−x_{1-x}Alx_xB2_2. Evidence for anisotropic Fermi surface

We report a detailed study of $^{11}$B and $^{27}$Al NMR spin-lattice relaxation rates ($1/T_1$), as well as of $^{27}$Al Knight shift (K) of Mg$_{1-x}$Al$_x$B$_2$, $0\leq x\leq 1$. The obtained ($1/T_1T$) and K vs. x plots are in excellent agreement with ab initio calculations. This asserts experimentally the prediction that the Fermi surface is highly anisotropic, consisting mainly of hole-type 2-D cylindrical sheets from bonding $2p_{x,y}$ boron orbitals. It is also shown that the density of states at the Fermi level decreases sharply on Al doping and the 2-D sheets collapse at $x\approx 0.55$, where the superconductive phase disappears