In diffusive Josephson junctions the phase-difference Ï• between the
superconductors strongly influences the spectroscopic features of the layer
separating them. The observation of a uniform minigap and its phase modulation
were only recently experimentally reported, demonstrating agreement with
theoretical predictions up to now - a vanishing minigap at Ï•=Ï€.
Remarkably, we find that in the presence of intrinsic spin-orbit coupling a
giant proximity effect due to spin-triplet Cooper pairs can develop at
Ï•=Ï€, in complete contrast to the suppressed proximity effect without
spin-orbit coupling. We here report a combined numerical and analytical study
of this effect, proving its presence solely based on symmetry arguments, which
makes it independent of the specific parameters used in experiments. We show
that the spectroscopic signature of the triplets is present throughout the
entire ferromagnetic layer. Our finding offers a new way to artificially
create, control and isolate spin-triplet superconductivity.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.