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arXiv · 0808.0166

Parity-dependent proximity effect in superconductor/antiferromagnet heterostructures

J. W. A. Robinson·Gabor Halasz·M. G. Blamire
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Abstract

We report the effect on the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of a Nb film proximity coupled to the synthetic antiferromagnet Fe/{Cr/Fe}_(N-1). We find that there is a parity dependence of Tc on the total number of Fe layers, N; locally Tc is always a maximum when N is even, and a minimum when N is odd. The Fe electron mean free path and coherence length are indicative of dirty limit behavior; as such, we numerically model our data using the linearized Usadel equations with good correlation.

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J. W. A. Robinson, Gabor Halasz, M. G. Blamire. 2008-08-01. Parity-dependent proximity effect in superconductor/antiferromagnet heterostructures. https://arxiv.org/abs/0808.0166

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