title: Thickness dependence of the Josephson ground States of superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor junctions.
abstract: We report the first experimental observation of the two-node thickness dependence of the critical current in Josephson junctions with a ferromagnetic interlayer. Nodes of the critical current correspond to the transitions into the pi state and back into the conventional 0 state. From the experimental data the superconducting order parameter oscillation period and the pair decay length in the ferromagnet are extracted reliably. We develop a theoretical approach based on the Usadel equations taking into account the spin-flip scattering. Results of numerical calculations are in good agreement with experiments.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Solid State Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Chernogolovka.
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Oboznov
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Bol'ginov
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Feofanov
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Ryazanov
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Buzdin