Ferromagnetic π-junctions

✍ Scribed by M. Aprili; T. Kontos; W. Guichard; J. Lesueur; P. Gandit

• Book ID: 104082220
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 469 KB
• Volume: 408-410
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0921-4534
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physc.2004.03.047

✦ Synopsis

Phase sensitive experiments have shown that the gap function of HTC superconductors changes of sign in the way expected for a condensate wave function with d x 2 Ày 2 symmetry suggesting unconventional pairing. We present tunneling spectroscopy, Josephson effect and quantum interference measurements on superconducting/ferromagnetic (S/F) nanostructures based on a conventional superconductor: Nb. We observe a change sign oscillating order parameter induced into the ferromagnet by the proximity effect. This new inhomogeneous superconducting state indicates that a negative order parameter and hence p-coupling does not necessarily require unconventional pairing. More generally, it suggests that S/F hybrid nanostructures are an interesting alternative to investigate the interplay between magnetic order and superconductivity.