Thickness dependence of the Josephson ground States of superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor junctions.
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.
Oboznov
V A
VA
Institute of Solid State Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Chernogolovka.
Bol'ginov
V V
VV
Feofanov
A K
AK
Ryazanov
V V
VV
Buzdin
A I
AI