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arXiv · 1404.2304

Angular dependence of superconductivity in superconductor / spin valve heterostructures

Alejandro A. Jara·Christopher Safranski·Ilya N. Krivorotov·Chien-Te Wu·Abdul N. Malmi-Kakkada·Oriol T. Valls·Klaus Halterman
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Abstract

We report measurements of the superconducting transition temperature, $T_c$, in CoO/Co/Cu/Co/Nb multilayers as a function of the angle $\alpha$ between the magnetic moments of the Co layers. Our measurements reveal that $T_c(\alpha)$ is a nonmonotonic function, with a minimum near $\alpha={\pi}/{2}$. Numerical self-consistent solutions of the Bogoliubov - de Gennes equations quantitatively and accurately describe the behavior of $T_c$ as a function of $\alpha$ and layer thicknesses in these superconductor / spin-valve heterostructures. We show that experimental data and theoretical evidence agree in relating $T_c(\alpha)$ to enhanced penetration of the triplet component of the condensate into the Co/Cu/Co spin valve in the maximally noncollinear magnetic configuration.

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Alejandro A. Jara, Christopher Safranski, Ilya N. Krivorotov, Chien-Te Wu, Abdul N. Malmi-Kakkada, Oriol T. Valls, Klaus Halterman. 2014-04-08. Angular dependence of superconductivity in superconductor / spin valve heterostructures. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.89.184502

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