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arXiv · 0803.0445

Lattice-mismatch-induced granularity in CoPt-NbN and NbN-CoPt superconductor-ferromagnet heterostructures: Effect of strain

Abstract

The effect of strain due to lattice mismatch and of ferromagnetic (FM) exchange field on superconductivity (SC) in NbN-CoPt bilayers is investigated. Two different bilayer systems with reversed deposition sequence are grown on MgO (001) single crystals. While robust superconductivity with high critical temperature (T_c ~ 15.3 K) and narrow transition width DelT_c ~ 0.4 K) is seen in two types of CoPt-NbN/MgO heterostructures where the magnetic anisotropy of CoPt is in-plane in one case and out-of-plane in the other, the NbN-CoPt/MgO system shows markedly suppressed SC response. The reduced SC order parameter of this system, which manifests itself in Tc, temperature dependence of critical current density J_c (T), and angular (Phi) variation of flux-flow resistivity Rho_f is shown to be a signature of the structure of NbN film and not a result of the exchange field of CoPt. The Rho_f (H,T,Phi) data further suggest that the domain walls in the CoPt film are of the Neel type and hence do not cause any flux in the superconducting layer. A small, but distinct increase in the low-field critical current of the CoPt-NbN couple is seen when the magnetic layer has perpendicular anisotropy.

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R. K. Rakshit, S. K. Bose, R. Sharma, N. K. Pandey, R. C. Budhani. 2008-03-21. Lattice-mismatch-induced granularity in CoPt-NbN and NbN-CoPt superconductor-ferromagnet heterostructures: Effect of strain. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.77.094505

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