Spin-orbit driven superconducting proximity effects in Pt/Nb thin films
Date
21/08/2023Author
Grant ID
EP/I031014/1
EP/J01060X/1
EP/L015110/1
EP/R023522/1
EP/L017008/1
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Manipulating the spin state of thin layers of superconducting material is a promising route to generate dissipationless spin currents in spintronic devices. Approaches typically focus on using thin ferromagnetic elements to perturb the spin state of the superconducting condensate to create spin-triplet correlations. We have investigated simple structures that generate spin-triplet correlations without using ferromagnetic elements. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy and muon-spin rotation are used to probe the local electronic and magnetic properties of our hybrid structures, demonstrating a paramagnetic contribution to the magnetization that partially cancels the Meissner screening. This spin-orbit generated magnetization is shown to derive from the spin of the equal-spin pairs rather than from their orbital motion and is an important development in the field of superconducting spintronics.
Citation
Flokstra , M G , Stewart , R , Yim , C M , Trainer , C , Wahl , P , Miller , D N , Satchell , N , Burnell , G , Luetkens , H , Prokscha , T , Suter , A , Morenzoni , E , Bobkova , I V , Bobkov , A M & Lee , S 2023 , ' Spin-orbit driven superconducting proximity effects in Pt/Nb thin films ' , Nature Communications , vol. 14 , 5081 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40757-1
Publication
Nature Communications
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2041-1723Type
Journal article
Description
Authors acknowledge the support of the EPSRC through Grants No. EP/I031014/1, No. EP/J01060X, No. EP/J010634/1, No. EP/L015110/1, No.EP/R031924/1, No. EP/R023522/1 and No.EP/L017008/1. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 743791 (SUPERSPIN). All muon experiments were undertaken courtesy of the Paul Scherrer Institut.Collections
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