arXiv subjects

Tim Kokkeler

Publications and source records attributed to Tim Kokkeler.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Controlling magnetic domain walls with supercurrents

Establishing a versatile, fast and reliable magnetic memory technology is a giant bottleneck for cryogenic computing since present-day room-temperature solutions either cease to work or consume too much power. The long-term goal of superconducting spintronics has been to overcome this bottleneck by generating magnetic memories with equal-spin triplet supercurrent driven through them to control their magnetization direction. This path has been hampered by the short spin relaxation length and strong anisotropy in ferromagnets. Here we show how the supercurrent driven generation of spin accumulation in a superconductor/magnetic insulator bilayer, together with Gilbert damping of magnetization lead to a motion of magnetic domain walls. This manifests as a local voltage across the wall, which allows its position to be identified. Associated with this voltage and the current, there is Joule power which is dissipated via the Gilbert damping. The power required to maintain domain wall motion is orders of magnitude smaller than in the normal state, where most of the power is wasted in producing the current.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2026

Theory of Spin-splitter Magnetoresistance in Altermagnets

We develop a theory of angular-dependent magnetoresistance (ADMR) in metallic altermagnets coupled to ferromagnetic insulators and establish criteria that distinguish them from conventional compensated magnets with spin-orbit coupling. We show that, once its full set of angular dependencies is established, the spin-splitter magnetoresistance (SSMR)-- recently reported in the bilayer geometry of H. Chen et al. [Adv. Mater. 37, 2507764 (2025)] -- would constitute a smoking-gun signature of collinear d-wave altermagnetism in metallic systems. Although SSMR has been regarded as a close analogue of spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR), we demonstrate that the two differ qualitatively in three key respects: SSMR depends solely on the relative orientation between the ferromagnetic magnetization and the altermagnetic N\'eel vector, yields a longitudinal ADMR response of opposite sign, and features a direct proportionality between longitudinal and transverse ADMR signals, absent in SMR. Building on these distinctions, we further show that the full angular dependence of the SSMR provides a practical recipe to extract the direction of the N\'eel vector from customary magnetoresistance measurements. These results provide a clear route to unambiguously identify altermagnets in transport.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Spin Splitter and Inverse Effects in Altermagnetic Hybrid Structures

We provide a theoretical description of diffusive charge and spin transport in hybrid devices containing altermagnets. Based on recently derived drift--diffusion equations for coupled charge and spin dynamics and general boundary conditions, our approach provides a unified description of the spin-splitter effect, i.e., the conversion of charge currents into spin currents, and its inverse in terms of experimentally accessible parameters. We analyze, analytically and numerically, the spin-splitter effect, demonstrating that an injected spin accumulation generates a measurable voltage difference across the transverse direction in the altermagnet. Motivated by a recent experiment, we also analyze a nonlocal spin-valve geometry in which an altermagnetic strip injects spin into a diffusive normal metal. We derive the resulting nonlocal voltage detected by a ferromagnetic electrode as a function of the relative orientation of the N'eel vector and the ferromagnetic polarization, accounting for the main experimental findings. For this setup, we further address spin precession during diffusive transport by analyzing the spin Hanle effect. Our results provide theoretical explanations and predictions for several altermagnet hybrid structures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Direct demonstration of time-reversal-symmetry-breaking spin injection from a compensated magnet

The injection, propagation and detection of spin currents are essential physical processes in spintronics. So far, the separation of charge and spin currents was facilitated by the electrical spin injection from a ferromagnet (FM) or the injection by a relativistic spin Hall effect. The devices employed are lateral spin valves comprising spatially separated injection and detection electrodes, connected by a spin-propagation channel. The time-reversal symmetry (TRS) breaking FM spin injection is realized in a geometry with an electrical bias applied between the injection electrode and the channel and is modelled by a conserved spin-polarized drift current. In contrast, the spin injection by the T-symmetric relativistic spin Hall mechanism is driven by an electrical bias applied across the injection electrode alone, and is modelled by a non-conserved spin current transverse to the applied bias. In this work, we use a lateral spin valve with a Mn5Si3 injection electrode to directly demonstrate a TRS-breaking spin injection from a compensated magnet with a vanishing net magnetization. Specifically, the TRS-breaking is demonstrated by the fact that switching between time-reversed states of the compensated magnet changes the detected spin signal. Moreover, the TRS-breaking nature of the spin injection is observed in both experimental geometries with the different electrical biasing, while using the same detection electrode. We show that this unconventional spin-injection is consistent with different magnitudes and propagation angles of electrical currents in the spin-up and spin-down channel in a d-wave altermagnet. Here our symmetry analysis and first-principles calculations are based on the compensated collinear altermagnetic order which has provided a comprehensive microscopic interpretation of earlier structural, magnetic, and anomalous Hall and Nernst measurements in Mn5Si3 thin films.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Interplay between Superconductivity and Altermagnetism in Disordered Materials and Heterostructures

We study the interplay between superconductivity and altermagnetism in disordered systems using recently derived quantum kinetic transport equations. Starting from this framework, we derive the Ginzburg-Landau free energy and identify, in addition to the conventional pair-breaking term, a coupling between the spin and the spatial variation of the superconducting order parameter. Two distinct effects emerge from this coupling. The first is a nonlinear magnetoelectric effect, in which a supercurrent (i.e., a phase gradient) induces a spin texture; this contribution is quadratic in the phase gradient. The second effect arises when the magnitude, rather than the phase, of the superconducting order parameter varies in space, likewise leading to a finite magnetization. We show that these two contributions compete in the case of an Abrikosov vortex, where both the amplitude and phase of the order parameter vary spatially. The effect associated with amplitude variations also gives rise to a proximity-induced magnetization (PIM) in hybrid structures composed of a superconductor (S) and an altermagnet (AM). Using quasiclassical theory, we analyze the PIM in diffusive S/AM bilayers and S/AM/S Josephson junctions, and determine the induced magnetization profiles. In Josephson junctions, where both the PIM and the nonlinear magnetoelectric effect coexist, we further predict the occurrence of $0$-$\pi$ transitions.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Fluxoid solitons in superconducting tapered tubes and bottlenecks

A thin-walled tubular superconductor develops a quantized fluxoid in the presence of an axial magnetic field. The fluxoid corresponds to the number of phase windings of the superconducting order parameter and is topological in nature. When the tube has a radius variation along the axial direction, forming a bottleneck structure between sections with different radius, a fluxoid mismatch can appear depending on the applied magnetic field. The bottleneck then becomes a topological boundary and is host to topologically protected solutions for the order parameter, dubbed fluxoid solitons, that are free to move around bottlenecks with cylindrical symmetry. Fluxoid solitons are a new type of vortex with non-quantized flux, loosely related to Pearl vortices in thin superconducting films, and fluxons in Corbino Josephson junctions. We characterize their properties as a function of system parameters using the self-consistent quasiclassical theory of diffusive superconductors. We consider both short bottleneck structures and long tapered tubes, where multiple trapped fluxoid solitons adopt elaborate arrangements dictated by their mutual repulsion.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Nonequilibrium spin-splitter effect in altermagnet superconductor hybrids

We study the nonequilibrium spin-splitter effect in superconducting altermagnets and superconductor altermagnet hybrids by computing the alternating spin current and edge the spin density in the presence of an alternating electric field. We show that while in the normal state the effect is not sensitive to the field frequency, in the superconducting state, there is a strong effect for frequencies on the scale of $\Delta_0$ or lower. We contrast the effect to the spin accumulation induced by the spin-Hall effect, by showing that for the altermagnet spin-splitter effect the out-of-phase spin density does not diverge in the adiabatic limit. This difference is attributed to the absence of any equilibrium spin-splitter effect in altermagnets. In fact, the out-of-phase component vanishes below the gap excitation frequency $2\Delta_0$, because below this frequency the absence of dissipation and the behavior of the system under time-reversal directly determine the relative phase between the charge current, spin current, and spin accumulation. The nonequilibrium effect can be tuned by external parameters like temperature. In fact, it has a nonmonotonic temperature dependence, taking its largest value for temperatures around $0.8T_{c}$. The value at this temperature can be significantly larger than the normal state spin density or the low temperature spin density. Thus, besides using the nonequilibrium spin-splitter effect to identify altermagnets, its tunability makes it also suitable for applications.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

From local to collective superconductivity in proximitized graphene

The superconducting proximity effect induces pairing correlations in metallic systems via Andreev scattering. This effect is particularly intriguing in graphene, as it enables two-dimensional superconductivity that is tunable through doping. Understanding how superconducting correlations propagate within the metal is crucial to unveiling the key factors behind this tunability. Here, we employ scanning tunneling microscopy to investigate the energy and length scales of the proximity effect induced by Pb islands on graphene. Using tip-induced manipulation, we assemble S/N/S junctions with tunable N-region spacing and explore the evolution of the proximitized state in the confined normal region. We find that different doping levels can lead to either localized or collective superconducting states. By combining our experimental results with quasiclassical theory, we demonstrate that interface conductance plays a key role in determining the strength and coherence length of pairing correlations and inter-island coupling. Our findings provide new insights into the design of novel superconducting states and the control of their properties.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Interfacial spin-orbit coupling in superconducting hybrid systems

We investigate the effects of interfacial spin-orbit coupling (ISOC) on superconductors, focusing on its impact on electronic transport and spin-charge conversion. Using a symmetry-based nonlinear sigma model, we derive effective boundary conditions for the Usadel and Maxwell equations that account for the spin-galvanic effect, spin relaxation, and spin precession. This approach allows for the analysis of various interfaces without relying on specific microscopic models. We apply these boundary conditions to derive ISOC-induced terms in the Ginzburg-Landau functional, which is then used to compute the critical temperature of superconducting films with ISOC subjected to an external magnetic field. Our findings show that, contrary to a recent prediction, the critical temperature of a film cannot be enhanced by an external magnetic field. Additionally, we demonstrate that the combination of ISOC and an external magnetic field leads to a superconducting diode effect. Its efficiency strongly depends on the interplay between the spin-galvanic and the spin relaxation terms. Our results provide a framework for understanding ISOC in superconducting systems and highlight the potential for optimizing diode efficiency through careful interface engineering.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

Quantum transport theory for unconventional magnets: Interplay of altermagnetism and p-wave magnetism with superconductivity

We present a quantum transport theory for generic magnetic metals, in which magnetism occurs predominantly due to exchange interactions, such as ferromagnets, antiferromagnets, altermagnets and p-wave magnets. Our theory is valid both for the normal and the superconducting state. We derive the effective low-energy action for each of these materials, where the spin space groups are used to determine the form of the tensor coefficients appearing in the action. The transport equations, which are obtained as the saddle point equations of this action, describe a wider range of phenomena than the usual quasiclassical equations. In ferromagnets, in addition to the usual exchange field and spin relaxation effects, we identify a spin-dependent renormalization of the diffusion coefficient, which provides a description of spinpolarized currents in both the normal and superconducting equal spin-triplet states. In the normal state, our equations provide a complete description of the spin-splitting effect in diffusive systems, recently predicted in ideal clean altermagnets. In the superconducting state, our equations predict a proximity induced magnetization, the appearance of a spontaneous magnetic moment in hybrid superconductor-altermagnet systems. The distribution and polarization direction of this magnetic moment depend on the symmetry of the structure, thus measurements of such polarization reveal the underlying microscopic symmetry of the altermagnet. Finally, for inversionsymmetry broken antiferromagnets, such as the p-wave magnet, we show that spin-galvanic effects which are distinguishable from the spin-galvanic effect induced by spin-orbit coupling only in the superconducting state. Besides these examples, our model applies to arbitrary magnetic systems, providing a complete theory for nonequilibrium transport in diffusive nonconventional magnets at arbitrary temperatures.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

Full counting statistics for unconventional superconductor junctions

Noise and current measurements are key tools for studying mesoscopic systems, revealing insights beyond conductance alone. For instance, noise measurements show that transport carriers in conventional superconductors have charge 2e. The noise power also depends on junction type, distinguishing different transport processes. Existing theories focus primarily on zero temperature shot noise in tunnel junctions with conventional superconductors, where transport is carried by quasiparticles and Cooper pairs. Here we develop a full counting statistics theory for unconventional superconductor / normal metal junctions of different types, incorporating the effect of thermal noise on the differential Fano factor, the ratio of differential noise power and conductance. In these junctions there is a third type of transport carrier, surface Andreev bound states. Our study reveals that junctions with dispersionless surface Andreev bound states exhibit negative differential Fano factor at finite temperatures. In contrast, in the presence of dispersive surface Andreev bound states, the noise power always increases with voltage, but there are local minima in the differential noise at those voltages corresponding to the extrema of the surface Andreev bound state spectrum. For normal metals and conventional superconductors the voltage dependence of the differential Fano factor is similar in all types of junctions, including tunnel junctions and diffusive barriers. However, significant differences arise with unconventional superconductors, making distinct junction types valuable tools for identifying pairing symmetries. Our results also highlight the importance of finite temperature effects in noise power measurements for potential unconventional superconductors, offering new means to determine pairing symmetries in topological superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

A universal phenomenology of charge-spin interconversion and dynamics in diffusive systems with spin-orbit coupling

We present an effective field theory for a unified description of transport in normal and superconducting metals in the presence of generic spin-orbit coupling (SOC). The structure of the quantum kinetic theory in the diffusive regime is determined by a set of fundamental constraints -- charge conjugation symmetry, the causality principle, and the crystal symmetry of a material. These symmetries uniquely fix the action of the Keldysh non-linear $\sigma$ model (NLSM), which at the saddle point yields the quantum kinetic Usadel-type equation. Our phenomenological approach is reminiscent of the Ginzburg-Landau theory, but is valid for superconductors in the whole temperature range, describes the diffusive transport in the normal state, and naturally captures the effects of superconducting fluctuations. As an application, we derive the NLSM and quantum transport equations which include all effects of spin-orbit coupling, allowed by the crystal symmetry, for example, the spin Hall, spin current swapping or spin-galvanic effects. Our approach can be extended to systems with broken time reversal symmetry, as well as to the description of hybrid interfaces, where the spin-charge interconversion can be enhanced due to strong interfacial SOC.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Positive magnetoresistance in anapole superconductor junctions

The article presents a method to detect time-reversal symmetry breaking in non-centrosymmetric superconductors using only transport measurements. Specifically, if time-reversal symmetry is broken via a phase difference between singlet and triplet correlations, as in anapole superconductors, the conductance in SFN junctions is enhanced by increasing the exchange field strength in the ferromagnet. This is in sharp contrast with the negative magnetoresistance when using superconductors in which time reversal symmetry is preserved. Moreover, results show a large quadrupolar component of the magnetoresistance which is qualitatively different from the bipolar giant magnetoresistance in strong ferromagnets.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Nonreciprocal superconducting transport and the spin Hall effect in gyrotropic structures

The search for superconducting systems exhibiting nonreciprocal transport and, specifically, the diode effect, has proliferated in recent years. This trend encompasses a wide variety of systems, including planar hybrid structures, asymmetric SQUIDs, and certain noncentrosymmetric superconductors. A common feature of such systems is a gyrotropic symmetry, realized on different scales and characterized by a polar vector. Alongside time-reversal symmetry breaking, the presence of a polar axis allows for magnetoelectric effects, which, when combined with proximity-induced superconductivity, results in spontaneous non-dissipative currents that underpin the superconducting diode effect. This symmetry established, we present a comprehensive theoretical study of transport in a lateral Josephson junctions composed of a normal metal supporting the spin Hall effect, and attached to a ferromagnetic insulator. Due to the presence of the latter, magnetoelectric effects arise without requiring external magnetic fields. We determine the dependence of the anomalous current on the spin relaxation length and the transport parameters commonly used in spintronics to characterize the interface between the metal and the ferromagnetic insulator. Therefore, our theory naturally unifies nonreciprocal transport in superconducting systems with classical spintronic effects, such as the spin Hall effect, spin galvanic effect, and spin Hall magnetoresistance. We propose an experiment involving measurements of magnetoresistance in the normal state and nonreciprocal transport in the superconducting state. Such experiment, on the one hand, allows for determining the parameters of the model and thus verifying with a greater precision the theories of magnetoelectric effects in normal systems. On the other hand, it contributes to a deeper understanding of the underlying microscopic origins that determine these parameters.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Proximity effect of time-reversal symmetry broken non-centrosymmetric superconductors

In non-centrosymmetric superconductors the pair potential has both even-parity singlet and odd-parity triplet components. If time-reversal symmetry is broken, the superconducting phase of these components is not the same, for example in anapole superconductors. In this paper it is shown that breaking time-reversal symmetry by a phase difference between the two components significantly alters both the density of states and the conductance in s+helical p-wave superconductors. The density of states and conductance in s+chiral p-wave superconductors are less influenced by adding a phase difference because time reversal symmetry is already broken in the s+p-wave superconductor. The Tanaka-Nazarov boundary conditions are extended to 3D superconductors, allowing to investigate a greater variety of superconductors, such as B-W superconductors, in which the direction of the d-vector is parallel to the direction of momentum. The results are important for the determination of pair potentials in potentially time-reversal symmetry broken non-centrosymmetric superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Anisotropic differential conductance of a mixed parity superconductor/ferromagnet structure

We study the electronic transport properties of a superconductor (S) with a mixed s+p-wave pairing attached to a ferromagnetic metal (F) and a normal electrode (N) in an SFN configuration. Using the quasiclassical Green's function method, we compute the differential conductance $\sigma$ of the junction and demonstrate its dependence on the direction of the exchange field relative to the direction of the d-vector of the pair potential. If the p-wave triplet dominates the pairing, the zero bias conductance depends on the relative direction between the triplet d-vector and the exchange field. In contrast, if the s-wave singlet dominates the pairing, the zero bias conductance is isotropic with respect to the field direction. Furthermore, at zero temperature, the zero bias conductance height can only take two values as a function of $r$, the parameter quantifying the relative amount of s- and p-wave pairing, with an abrupt change at $r=1$ when the superconductor goes from a singlet to triplet dominated ground state. Moreover, we show that the relative amount of s- and p-wave pairing, can be estimated from the dependence of the finite bias conductance on the exchange field direction. Our results provide a way to characterize parity-mixed superconductors performing electrical measurements.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Field-free anomalous junction and superconducting diode effect in spin split superconductor/topological insulator junctions

We study the transport properties of a diffusive Josephson junction between two spin-split superconductors made of superconductor-ferromagnetic insulator bilayers (FIS) on top of a 3D topological insulator (TI). We derive the corresponding Usadel equation describing the quasiclassical Green's functions in these systems and first solve the equation analytically in the weak-proximity case. We demonstrate the appearance of an anomalous phase in the absence of an external magnetic field. We also explore non-reciprocal electronic transport. Specifically, we calculate the junction's diode efficiency $\eta$ by solving the Usadel equation. We obtain a sizable diode effect even at zero applied magnetic field. We discuss how the diode efficiency $\eta$ depends on the different parameters and find a non-monotonic behavior of $\eta$ with temperature.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Spin conductance in SNN junctions with non-centrosymmetric superconductors

An SNN-junction in which the superconducting potential is a mixture between s-wave and p-wave potentials is investigated using the Usadel equation equipped with Tanaka-Nazarov boundary conditions. The article provides several ways to distinguish between s + chiral and s + helical p-wave superconductors and a way to determine whether a superconductor has a mixed pair potential. Thus, it is of great importance in the determination of the pair potential of superconductors. It is shown that the different spin sectors satisfy independent equations and can thus be calculated separately even if the d-vector depends on the direction of momentum. This greatly simplifies the equations to be solved. It was found that a difference in conductance for sectors with opposite spins arises if both an s-wave and a p-wave component is present, even in the absence of a magnetic field. The results are confirmed by calculations in the ballistic regime. It is shown that the spin conductance for s + chiral p-wave and s + helical p-wave junctions is qualitatively similar. A setup containing two SN junctions is shown to give a clear difference between the two types of superconductivity.

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