Coexistence and Coupling of Superconductivity and Magnetism in Thin Film Structures

Drew, Alan J.; Charalambous, D.; Potenza, A.; Marrows, C. H.; Luetkens, H.; Suter, A.; Prokscha, T.; Khasanov, R.; Morenzoni, E.; Ucko, Daniel; Forgan, E. M.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.95.197201

Cited by 15 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(23 reference statements)

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“…Since the exchange field is pair breaking for either sign of exchange, this would lead to an oscillation in T c with half the period of the RKKY oscillation in the exchange field. Direct evidence for such an RKKY mechanism of T c oscillations may be possible through the use of SR or ␤-NMR appropriate depth resolution to detect oscillations in the local magnetic exchange field of thin films of Au on Co-indeed the coexistence of ferromagnetism and superconductivity in FM/ SC/FM trilayers has recently been studied using low energy SR. 23 From this picture we can obtain a good qualitative-and even semiquantitative-understanding of the short-period T c oscillation observed for small t Au 's in Nb/Au/Co trilayers. The range of thickness ͑ϳ3 nm͒ for which short-period oscillations are observed is of the same order of magnitude as the spin penetration depth sp Au Ϸ 1 nm found from Mössbauer spectroscopy of Co/Au multilayers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Interplay between superconductivity and ferromagnetism in epitaxial Nb(110)/Au(111)/Co(0001) trilayers

2010

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Epitaxially grown multilayer systems offer the possibility to study the influence of ferromagnetism on superconductivity in a controlled way. In this paper, we explore how the superconducting properties of high quality epitaxially grown superconductor/normal-metal/ferromagnet trilayers evolve as a function of the exchange splitting in the ferromagnet and the thickness of the normal-metal layer. We report results for Nb͑110͒/ Au͑111͒/Co͑0001͒ and make a detailed comparison with earlier results for Nb͑110͒/Au͑111͒/Fe͑110͒. We use quantitative fast Fourier transform analysis to confirm the existence of a long-period ͑2.1 nm͒ oscillation in the superconducting transition temperature T c as a function of the Au-layer thickness t Au for t Au Ͼ 2 nm and highlight an additional short-period ͑0.76 nm͒ oscillation for t Au Ͻ 3 nm in Nb/Au/Co. This short-period oscillation can be explained in terms of a damped Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yoshida-like oscillation of the spin polarization in Au. The robustness of the long-period oscillation against the substitution of Co for Fe suggests that it is intrinsic to the Au͑111͒ layer on Nb and may represent a form of quantum interference in very clean trilayer systems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Interplay between superconductivity and ferromagnetism in epitaxial Nb(110)/Au(111)/Co(0001) trilayers

2010

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“…For this, we used the technique of low-energy muon spin rotation 16,17 (LE-μSR), which has previously been applied successfully to obtain the depth-resolved profile of the local magnetization in various thin films and heterostructures 18,19 . The stopping distribution of the fully spin-polarized muons can be varied here on the scale of about 3-200 nm through the control of the muon implantation energy.…”

Section: Measurement Of Spin Penetrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct measurement of the electronic spin diffusion length in a fully functional organic spin valve by low-energy muon spin rotation

et al. 2008

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Electronic devices that use the spin degree of freedom hold unique prospects for future technology. The performance of these 'spintronic' devices relies heavily on the efficient transfer of spin polarization across different layers and interfaces. This complex transfer process depends on individual material properties and also, most importantly, on the structural and electronic properties of the interfaces between the different materials and defects that are common to real devices. Knowledge of these factors is especially important for the relatively new field of organic spintronics, where there is a severe lack of suitable experimental techniques that can yield depth-resolved information about the spin polarization of charge carriers within buried layers of real devices. Here, we present a new depth-resolved technique for measuring the spin polarization of current-injected electrons in an organic spin valve and find the temperature dependence of the measured spin diffusion length is correlated with the device magnetoresistance.R ecently great efforts have been undertaken to use the spin degree of freedom in electronic devices. These activities are fuelled by the potential prospects of spin-electronic (or 'spintronic') devices for example in terms of increased processing speed and integration, non-volatility, reduced power consumption, multifunctionality and their suitability for quantum computing 1 . The most common method for using the spin in devices is based on the alignment of the electron spin ('up' or 'down') relative to either a reference magnetic field or the magnetization orientation of a ferromagnetic layer. Device operation normally proceeds with measuring a quantity such as the electrical current that depends on how the degree of spin alignment is transferred across the device. The so-called 'spin valve' is a prominent example of such a spin-enabled device that has already revolutionized hard-drive read heads and magnetic memory 1 . The efficient transfer of spin polarization in real device structures remains one of the most difficult challenges in spintronics, because it is dependent on more than just the properties of the individual materials that comprise the device.Recently 2,3 , the use of organic materials in spintronics has become of significant interest, primarily owing to their ease and small cost of processing and electronic and structural flexibility. Furthermore, the extremely long spin coherence times found in organic materials offer considerable advantages over other materials 3 . This favourable property is related to two factors, first the weak spin-orbit coupling of light elements such as carbon and second to the small nuclear hyperfine interaction 4,5 . The latter arises because the electron transport in π-conjugated molecules is normally confined to molecular states, delocalized to the carbon rings, the predominant isotope of which, 12 C, has zero nuclear spin 4 .A common way to measure spin diffusion is based on time-resolved optical techniques, where spin-polarized charge carrie...

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“…In interlayered exchange coupled systems such as Fe/Ag/Fe or Fe/Pb/Fe it is the response of the conduction electrons in the non-magnetic interlayer, which mediates the coupling between the ferromagnetic layers. The related tiny oscillating spin-polarization of the conduction electrons in Ag and Pb could be recently characterized in the normal [15] and superconducting state [16] by using the very slow muons as magnetic microprobe.…”

Section: Examples Of Investigations Of Thin Films and Surface Re-gionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applied muon science: novel perspectives in nano-science

Morenzoni

Prokscha

Suter

2005

Nuclear Physics B - Proceedings Supplements

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Coexistence and Coupling of Superconductivity and Magnetism in Thin Film Structures

Cited by 15 publications

References 22 publications

Interplay between superconductivity and ferromagnetism in epitaxial Nb(110)/Au(111)/Co(0001) trilayers

Interplay between superconductivity and ferromagnetism in epitaxial Nb(110)/Au(111)/Co(0001) trilayers

Direct measurement of the electronic spin diffusion length in a fully functional organic spin valve by low-energy muon spin rotation

Applied muon science: novel perspectives in nano-science

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