Spin-valve magnetic sandwich in a Josephson junction

A. Vedyayev; C. Lacroix; N. Pugach; N. Ryzhanova

doi:10.1209/epl/i2005-10118-y

All issues

Volume 71 / No 4 (August 2005)

Europhys. Lett., 71 4 (2005) 679-685

Abstract

Issue		Europhys. Lett. Volume 71, Number 4, August 2005


Page(s)		679 - 685
Section		Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2005-10118-y
Published online		14 July 2005

Europhys. Lett., 71 (4), pp. 679-685 (2005)

Spin-valve magnetic sandwich in a Josephson junction

A. Vedyayev¹, C. Lacroix², N. Pugach¹ and N. Ryzhanova¹

¹ Faculty of Physics, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow 119992, Russia
² Laboratoire Louis Néel, CNRS - BP 166, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

Received: 22 March 2005
Accepted: 17 June 2005

Abstract

The Josephson current is calculated in a SFNFS junction, which consists of two ferromagnetic layers (F) separated by a thin non-magnetic spacer (N) and connected to superconducting electrodes (S). Gorkov equations are solved taking into account the fact that s-d scattering is the main scattering mechanism in the $3d$ ferromagnetic metals and it effectively destroys BCS correlation. It allows us to consider both strong and weak exchange field I: $I\tau_f\gg1$ or $I\tau_f\ll 1$ ( $\tau_f$ is the relaxation time in F-layers). It is shown that the critical current J oscillates as a function of F-layers thickness and the oscillation period depends only on I. The s-d scattering effectively acts as an additional to the exchange magnetic-field mechanism for the suppression of BCS correlation in the ferromagnet. The s-d scattering is shown to be the reason of suppression of the Josephson current enhancement in the antiparallel configuration.

PACS: 74.50.+r – Tunneling phenomena; point contacts, weak links, Josephson effects / 72.25.-b – Spin polarized transport / 73.63.-b – Electronic transport in nanoscale materials and structures

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