title: Coexistence of ferromagnetism and superconductivity in Ni/Bi bilayers.
abstract: In spite of a lack of superconductivity in bulk crystalline Bi, thin film Bi deposited on thin Ni underlayers are strong-coupled superconductors below approximately 4 K. We unambiguously demonstrate that by tuning the Ni thickness the competition between ferromagnetism and superconductivity in the Ni/Bi can be tailored. For a narrow range of Ni thicknesses, the coexistence of both a superconducting energy gap and conduction electron spin polarization are visible within the Ni side of the Ni/Bi bilayers, independent of any particular theoretical model. We believe that this represents one of the clearest observations of superconductivity and ferromagnetism coexisting.
authors.affiliation: Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. dingus@mit.edu
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: LeClair
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Moodera
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Philip
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Heiman