Controlled injection of spin-triplet supercurrents into a strong ferromagnet.
The superconductor-ferromagnet proximity effect describes the fast decay of a spin-singlet supercurrent originating from the superconductor upon entering the neighboring ferromagnet. After placing a conical magnet (holmium) at the interface between the two, we detected a long-ranged supercurrent in the ferromagnetic layer. The long-range effect required particular thicknesses of the spiral magnetically ordered holmium, consistent with spin-triplet proximity theory. This enabled control of the electron pairing symmetry by tuning the degree of magnetic inhomogeneity through the thicknesses of the holmium injectors.
Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK. jjr33@cam.ac.uk
J W A
JW
Robinson
J D S
JD
Witt
M G
MG
Blamire