Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: At a superconductor interface with a ferromagnetic insulator (FI), the FI acts to induce a local exchange field within the S layer, which in the presence of spin-orbit interaction promotes a phase- modulated superconducting state. Here we demonstrate that within a thin superconducting loop that is partially proximitized by a FI, spontaneous currents form with a magnetization-orientation-dependent chirality with sizable shifts in Little-Parks oscillations. Furthermore, the critical temperature of the loop is also magnetization-orientation-dependent and conversely, the superconducting transition itself may influence the magnetization direction. More generally, the superconducting region above the FI serves as a ``phase battery'' and so offers a new device concept for superconducting spintronics.
Language: English
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: G162610562, G2107171531, G2413010650, International network to explore novel superconductivity at advanced oxide superconductor/magnet interfaces and in nanodevices, G3176349232, Superconducting Spintronics, G6123469206, Control of superconducting currents via spin and field effects: fundamentals for an offbeat electronics, Optical Manipulation of Single Flux Quanta in Superconductors and Applications
OpenAlex ID: W2895228709