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Superconducting exchange coupling between ferromagnets.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Zhu, Yi 
Pal, Avradeep 
Blamire, Mark G 
Barber, Zoe H 

Abstract

Recent discoveries from superconductor (S)/ferromagnet (FM) heterostructures include π-junctions, triplet pairing, critical temperature (Tc) control in FM/S/FM superconducting spin valves (SSVs) and critical current control in S/FM/N/FM/S spin valve Josephson junctions (N: normal metal). In all cases, the magnetic state of the device, generally set by the applied field, controls the superconducting response. We report here the observation of the converse effect, that is, direct superconducting control of the magnetic state in GdN/Nb/GdN SSVs. A model for an antiferromagnetic effective exchange interaction based on the coupling of the superconducting condensation energy to the magnetic state can explain the Nb thickness and temperature dependence of this effect. This superconducting exchange interaction is fundamentally different in origin from the various exchange coupling phenomena that underlie conventional spin electronics (spintronics), and provides a mechanism for the active control of the magnetic state in superconducting spintronics.

Description

Keywords

51 Physical Sciences, 5104 Condensed Matter Physics

Journal Title

Nat Mater

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1476-1122
1476-4660

Volume Title

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/N017242/1)
This work was supported by ERC AdG ‘Superspin’ and EPSRC Programme Grant EP/N017242/1.
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