title: Inhomogeneous superconductivity induced in a ferromagnet by proximity effect.
abstract: Planar tunneling spectroscopy reveals damped oscillations of the superconducting order parameter induced into a ferromagnetic thin film by the proximity effect. The oscillations are due to the finite momentum transfer provided for Cooper pairs by the splitting of the spin-up and spin-down bands in the ferromagnet. As a consequence, for negative values of the superconducting order parameter the tunneling spectra are capsized ("pi state"). The oscillations' damping and period are set by the same length scale, which depends on the spin polarization.
authors.affiliation: CSNSM-CNRS, Bât. 108, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kontos
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aprili
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lesueur
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Grison