Supra-oscillatory critical temperature dependence of Nb-Ho bilayers

The authors investigate the critical temperature T sub( c) of a thin s-wave superconductor (Nb) proximity coupled to a helical rare-earth ferromagnet (Ho). As a function of the Ho layer thickness, they observe multiple oscillations of T sub( c) superimposed on a slow decay, that they attribute to th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Europhysics letters 2013-02, Vol.101 (3), p.P1-P1
Main Authors: Chiodi, F, Witt, J D S, Smits, R G J, Qu, L, Halasz, Gabor B, Wu, C-T, Valls, O T, Halterman, K, Robinson, J W A, Blamire, M G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Critical temperature
Magnetic structure
Magnetization
Mathematical analysis
Niobium
Oscillations
Rare earth metals
Superconductivity
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Summary:The authors investigate the critical temperature T sub( c) of a thin s-wave superconductor (Nb) proximity coupled to a helical rare-earth ferromagnet (Ho). As a function of the Ho layer thickness, they observe multiple oscillations of T sub( c) superimposed on a slow decay, that they attribute to the influence of the Ho on the Nb proximity effect. Because of the inhomogeneous magnetization in Ho, singlet and triplet pair correlations are present in the bilayers. They take both into consideration when solving the self-consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations, and they find a reasonable agreement with the experiments. They also observe non-trivial transitions into the superconducting state, the zero resistance state being attained after two successive transitions which appear to be associated with the magnetic structure of Ho.
ISSN:0295-5075
1286-4854