1304.3939 (P. V. Leksin et al.)

Peculiarities of performance of the spin valve for the superconducting
current    [PDF]

P. V. Leksin, A. A. Kamashev, N. N. Garif'yanov, I. A. Garifullin, Ya. V. Fominov, J. Schumann, C. Hess, V. Kataev, B. Büchner

The spin valve effect for the superconducting current based on the superconductor/ferromagnet proximity effect has been studied for a CoO_x/Fe1/Cu/Fe2/Cu/Pb multilayer. The magnitude of the effect $\Delta T_c$ = T_c^{AP} - T_c^{P}, where T_c^{P} and T_c^{AP} are the superconducting transition temperatures for the parallel (P) and antiparallel (AP) orientation of magnetizations, respectively, has been measured for different thicknesses of the Fe1 layer d_{Fe1}. The obtained dependence of the effect on d_{Fe1} reveals that $\Delta T_c$ can be increased in comparison with the case of a half-infinite Fe1 layer considered by the previous theory. A maximum of the spin valve effect occurs at d_{Fe1} ~ d_{Fe2}. At the optimal value of d_{Fe1}, almost full switching from the normal to the superconducting state when changing the mutual orientation of magnetizations of the iron layers Fe1 and Fe2 from P to AP is demonstrated.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.3939