We present a fully first-principles method for superconducting thin films. The layer dependent phonon spectrum is calculated to determine the layer dependence of the electron-phonon coupling for such systems, which is coupled to the Kohn-Sham-Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations, and it is solved in a parameter free way. The theory is then applied to different surface facets of niobium slabs and to niobium-gold heterostructures. We investigate the dependence of the transition temperature on the thickness of the slabs and the inverse proximity effect observed in thin superconducting heterostructures.
The electrostatic potential in the flat superconducting slab is evaluated in the framework of the Ginzburg-Landau theory extended by Bardeen to low temperatures. For magnetic fields below B_c1, we discuss the formation of a surface charge induced by the Bernoulli potential of the suppercurrents.
We introduce a critical-state model incorporating the anisotropy of flux-line pinning to analyze the critical states developing in an anisotropic biaxial superconducting slab exposed to a uniform perpendicular magnetic field and to two crossed in-plane magnetic fields which are applied successively. The theory is an extension of the anisotropic collective pinning theory developed by Mikitik and Brandt. The anisotropic flux-line pinning enters into the critical states by generating the angular dependence of the critical current density and by deviating the direction of the electric field from t…
Dissipative-free electric current flow is one of the most fascinating and practically important property of superconductors. Theoretical consideration of the charge carriers flow in infinitely long rectangular slab of superconductor in the absence of external magnetic field (so called, self-field) is based on an assumption that the charge carriers have rectilinear trajectories in the direction of the current flow whereas the current density and magnetic flux density are decaying towards superconducting slab with London penetration depth as characteristic length. Here, we calculate charge parti…
The equilibrium topology of superconducting and normal domains in flat type-I superconductors is investigated. Important improvements with respect to previous work are: (1) the energy of the external magnetic field, as deformed by the presence of superconducting domains, is calculated in the same way for three different topologies, and (2) calculations are made for arbitrary orientation of the applied field. A phase diagram is presented for the minimum-energy topology as a function of applied field magnitude and angle. For small (large) applied fields normal (superconducting) tubes are found, …
We theoretically consider superconducting proximity effect, using the Bogoliubov-de Gennes theory, in heterostructure sandwich-type geometries involving a normal s-wave superconductor and a non-superconducting material with the proximity effect being driven by Cooper pairs tunneling from the superconducting slab to the non-superconducting slab. Applications of the superconducting proximity effect may rely on an induced spectral gap or induced pairing correlations without any spectral gap. We clarify that in a non-superconducting material the induced spectral gap and pairing correlations are in…
The prediction of material-specific properties of superconducting systems such as the electronic structure and the transition temperature is one of the major challenge in modern solid-state physics. In this paper we present the first material specific calculations of realistic superconductor -- normal metal heterostructures using density functional theory. In particular, we calculate the quasiparticle spectrum of different normal metal overlayers on a Nb(100) host. We find that the Andreev reflection leads to the formation of momentum dependent quasiparticle bands in the normal metal. As a con…
We report an investigation of current transport in Nb/Au/CaSrCuO/YBaCuO heterostructures including an antiferromagnetic interlayer (CaSrCuO). Epitaxial thin films of YBaCuO and CaSrCuO were grown by laser ablation on NdGaO substrates; the thicknesses of CaSrCuO films were 20 and 50 nm, and x=0.15 or 0.5. Our experimental results show that the superconducting current transport is increased in the Nb/Au/CaSrCuO/YBaCuO heterostructures in comparison with the ones observed in previously studied Nb/Au/YBaCuO heterostructures. It was found that the critical current of the structure is very sensitive…
Using the nonequilibrium theory of superconductivity with the tunnel Hamiltonian, we consider a mesoscopic NISINISIN heterostructure, i.e., a structure consisting of five intermittent normal-metal (N) and superconducting (S) regions separated by insulating tunnel barriers (I). Applying the bias voltage between the outer normal electrodes one can drive the central N island very far from equilibrium. Depending on the resistance ratio of outer and inner tunnel junctions, one can realize either effective electron cooling in the central N island or create highly nonequilibrium energy distributions …
We predict parametrically strong enhancement of the thermoelectric effect in metallic bilayers consisting of two superconductors separated by a spin-active interface. The physical mechanism for such an enhancement is directly related to electron-hole imbalance generated by spin-sensitive quasiparticle scattering at the interface between superconducting layers. We explicitly evaluate the thermoelectric currents flowing in the system and demonstrate that they can reach maximum values comparable to the critical ones for superconductors under consideration.
Oxide heterostructures have repeatedly been shown to display apical properties at the interfaces, some of which favorable to the formation of two-dimensional electron systems, as well as high transition temperature superconductivity. In this study, we propose a novel heterostructure to potentially achieve near room-temperature superconductivity, via the carrier injection in cuprate interfaces with ferro-electrics. Using a digital design approach guided by density-functional theory, the systems of XTiO3/XCuO3/XTiO3 are thoroughly examined, confirming the formation of a two-dimensional electron …
We report on structural, DC, X-ray and neutron studies of hybrid superconducting mesa-heterostructures with a cuprate antiferromagnetic interlayer Ca1-xSrxCuO2 (CSCO). The upper electrode was bilayer Nb/Au superconductor and copper oxide superconductor YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) was the bottom electrode. It was experimentally shown that during the epitaxial growth of the two films YBCO and CSCO a charge carrier doping takes place in the CSCO interlayer with a depth about 20 nm. The conductivity of the doped part of CSCO layer is close to the metal type, while the reference CSCO film, deposited directly …
We argue that Coulomb interaction can strongly influence non-local electron transport in normal-superconducting-normal structures and emphasize direct relation between Coulomb effects and non-local shot noise. In the tunneling limit non-local differential conductance is found to have an S-like shape and can turn negative at non-zero bias. At high transmissions crossed Andreev reflection yields positive noise cross-correlations and Coulomb anti-blockade of non-local electron transport.
In this study we perform numerical calculations of the spatial and time variation of the magnetic induction, current density and temperature in an infinite superconducting slab with macroscopic inhomogeneities. We also modeled an homogeneuos superconductor as a referential material, considering characteristic magnetothermal properties of a high-T$_c$ single crystal. The theoretical formalism is enclosed in the dynamical regime and a continuum electrodynamic approach. In particular, we studied the correlation between the magnetic jumps and temperature rise occurrence with the presence of macros…
We study non-equilibrium quantum transport of spin, heat, and charge in diffusive heterostructures including both superconductors and materials with spin-dependent fields, such as textured ferromagnets and spin-orbit coupled materials. Using the quasiclassical theory of superconductivity, we derive a general analytical formula for the zero-temperature charge conductance valid in the non-linear regime. The analytical results are in excellent agreement with previous numerical calculations at small but finite temperatures. We predict a strong deviation between the conductance spectra and local de…
We present the generalized quasiclassical theory of the long-range superconducting proximity effect in heterostructures with strong ferromagnets, where the exchange splitting is of the order of Fermi energy. In the ferromagnet the propagation of spin-triplet Cooper pairs residing on the spin-split Fermi surfaces is shown to be governed by the spin-dependent Abelian gauge field which results either from the spin-orbital coupling or from the magnetic texture. The additional gauge field enters into the quasiclassical equations in superposition with the usual electromagnetic vector potential and r…
Superconductor/ferromagnet (S/F) proximity effect theory predicts that the superconducting critical temperature of the F1/F2/S or F1/S/F2 trilayers for the parallel orientation of the F1 and F2 magnetizations is smaller than for the antiparallel one. This suggests a possibility of a controlled switching between the superconducting and normal states in the S layer. Here, using the spin switch design F1/F2/S theoretically proposed by Oh et al. [Appl. Phys. Lett. 71, 2376 (1997)], that comprises a ferromagnetic bilayer separated by a non-magnetic metallic spacer layer as a ferromagnetic component…
We present the Usadel theory describing the superconducting proximity effect in heterostructures with a half-metallic layer. It is shown that the full spin polarization inside the half-metals gives rise to the giant triplet spin-valve effect in superconductor (S) - ferromagnet (F) - half-metal (HM) trilayers as well as to the $φ_0$-junction formation in the S/F/HM/F/S systems. In addition, we consider the exactly solvable model of the S/F/HM trilayers of atomic thickness and demonstrate that it reproduces the main features of the spin-valve effect found within the Usadel approach. Our results …
We discuss how complex-oxide heterostructures that include high-Tc superconducting cuprates can be used to realize an array of sub-millimeter cavities that support Josephson plasmon polaritons. These cavities have several attractive features for new types of light matter interaction studies and we show that they promote "ultrastrong" coupling between THz frequency radiation and Josephson plasmons. Cavity electrodynamics of Josephson plasmons allows to manipulate the superconducting order-parameter phase coherence. As an example, we discuss how it could be used to cool superconducting phase flu…
We analyze the magnetization at the interface between singlet and triplet superconductors and show that its direction and dependence on the phase difference across the junction are strongly tied to the structure of the triplet order parameter as well as to the pairing interactions. We consider equal spin helical, opposite spin chiral, and mixed symmetry pairing on the triplet side and show that the magnetization vanishes at $ϕ=0$ only in the first case, follows approximately a $\cosϕ$ behavior for the second, and shows higher harmonics for the last configuration. We trace the origin of the mag…
We perform infrared conductivity measurements on a series of CaCuO$_2$/SrTiO$_3$ heterostructures made by the insulating cuprate CaCuO$_2$ (CCO) and the insulating perovkite SrTiO$_3$ (STO). We estimate the carrier density of various heterostructures, with different level of hole doping from the integral of the optical conductivity and we measure the corresponding degree of correlation by estimating the ratio between the Drude weight and the integral of the infrared spectrum. The analysis demonstrates a large degree of correlation, which increases as the doping is reduced. The experimental res…
We generalize the screened Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker (SKKR) method for solving the corresponding Kohn-Sham-Bogoliubov-de Gennes (KSBdG) equations for surfaces and interfaces. As an application of the newly developed theory we study the quasiparticle spectrum of Au overlayers on a Nb(100) host. We find that, within the superconducting gap region, the quasiparticle spectrum consists of Andreev bound states (ABS) with a dispersion which is closely connected to the underlying electronic structure of the overlayer. We also find that the spectrum has a strongly k-dependent induced gap. The properties o…
The interplay between superconductivity and ferromagnetism in the superconductor/ferromagnet (SC/FM) heterostructures generates many interesting physical phenomena, including spin-triplet superconductivity, superconducting order parameter oscillation, and topological superconductivity. The unique physical properties make the SC/FM heterostructures as promising platforms for future superconducting spintronics and quantum computation applications. In this article, we review important research progress of SC/FM heterostructures from superconducting spintronics to quantum computation, and it is or…
Superconducting transition temperature (Tc) and FMR were measured in heterostructure OC/V/Fe, were OC=Fe/Cr/Fe. Giant oscillations of Tc depending on a Cr-thickness were detected. Probable reasons of Tc-oscillation are discussed - periodic cancellation of pair-breacking exchange fields in superconducting V-layer or in fragment Fe/Cr/Fe.
Vortex-driven superconducting diode effect in asymmetric multilayer heterostructures
Institute for Advanced Study in Physics, Zhejiang University（浙江大学物理高等研究院）；Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Quantum Chips and Quantum Control, School of Physics, Zhejiang University（浙江大学物理学院微纳量子芯片与量子控制浙江省重点实验室）；International Quantum Academy, Shenzhen（深圳国际量子研究院）；Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University（南京大学先进微结构协同创新中心）
Chiral and helical domain walls are generic defects of topological spin-triplet superconductors. We study theoretically the magnetic and transport properties of superconducting singlet-triplet-singlet heterostructure as a function of the phase difference between the singlet leads in the presence of chiral and helical domains inside the spin-triplet region. The local inversion symmetry breaking at the singlet-triplet interface allows the emergence of a static phase-controlled magnetization, and generally yields both spin and charge currents flowing along the edges. The parity of the domain wall…
Recently thermally created pure spin currents were predicted for Zeeman-split superconductor/normal metal heterostructures. Here it is shown that this "thermospin" current can lead to an accumulation of a pure spin imbalance in a system. The thermally induced spin imbalance can reach the value of Zeeman splitting of the superconducting DOS and strongly influences superconductivity in the heterostructure. Depending on the temperature difference between the superconductor and the normal reservoir it can enhance the critical temperature of the superconductor or additionally suppress the zero-temp…
We consider the steady-state nonequilibrium behavior of mesoscopic superconducting wires connected to normal-metal reservoirs. Going beyond the diffusive limit, we utilize the quasiclassical theory and perform a self-consistent calculation that guarantees current conservation through the entire system. Going from the ballistic to the diffusive limit, we investigate several crucial phenomena such as charge imbalance, momentum-resolved nonequilbrium distributions, and the current-to-superflow conversion. Connecting to earlier results for the diffusive case, we find that superconductivity can bre…
Heterostructures composed of ferromagnetic La0.7Sr0.3MnO3, ferromagnetic SrRuO3, and superconducting YBa2Cu3Ox were studied experimentally. Structures of composition Au/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/SrRuO3/YBa2Cu3Ox were prepared by pulsed laser deposition, and their high quality was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and reflectometry. A non-collinear magnetic state of the heterostructures was revealed by means of SQUID magnetometry and polarized neutron reflectometry. We have further observed superconducting currents in mesa-structures fabricated by deposition of a second superconducting Nb layer on top of the…
Heterostructures allow the realization of electronic states that are difficult to obtain in isolated systems. Exemplary is the case of quasi-one-dimensional heterostructures formed by a superconductor and a semiconductor with spin-orbit coupling in which Majorana zero-energy modes can be realized. We study the effect of a single impurity on the spectrum of superconducting heterostructures. We find that the coupling between the superconductor and the semiconductor can strongly affect the impurity-induced states and may induce additional subgap bound states that are not present in isolated unifo…
We report a comparative analysis and theoretical description of the superconducting properties of two spin-valve-valve structures containing the Heusler alloy Co$_2$Cr$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$Al$_{y}$ as one of two ferromagnetic (F1 or F2) layers of the F1/F2/S structure, where S stands for the superconducting Pb layer. In our experiments we used the Heusler alloy layer in two roles: as a weak ferromagnet on the place of the F2 layer and as a half-metal on the place of the F1 layer. In the first case, we obtained a large ordinary superconducting spin-valve effect $ΔT_c$ assisted by the triplet supercondu…
Is it possible to increase Tc by constructing cuprate heterostructures, which combine the high pairing energy of underdoped layers with the large carrier density of proximate overdoped layers? We investigate this question within a model bilayer system using an effective theory of the doped Mott insulator. Interestingly, the question hinges on the fundamental nature of the superconducting state in the underdoped regime. Within a plain slave boson mean field theory, there is absolutely no enhancement of Tc. However, we do get a substantial enhancement for moderate inter-layer tunneling when we u…
We fabricated a nanolayered hybrid superconductor-ferromagnet spin-valve structure, the resistive state of which depends on the preceding magnetic field polarity. The effect is based on a strong exchange bias (about -2 kOe) on a diluted ferromagnetic copper-nickel alloy and generation of a long range odd in frequency triplet pairing component. The difference of high and low resistance states at zero magnetic field is 90% of the normal state resistance for a transport current of 250 μA and still around 42% for 10 μA. Both logic states of the structure do not require biasing fields or currents i…
Coexistence of ferromagnetic and superconducting orders and their interplay in ferromagnet-superconductor heterostructures is a topic of intense research. While it is well known that proximity of a ferromagnet suppresses superconducting order in the superconductor, there exist few studies indicating the proximity of a superconductor suppressing ferromagnetic order in a ferromagnet. Here we demonstrate a rare observation of the suppression of ferromagnetic order in a LaCaMnO3 layer separated from a YBa2Cu3O7-δ layer by a thin insulator (SrTiO3). Polarized neutron reflectivity measurements on La…
We propose a mechanism for the generation of pure superconducting spin-current carried by equal-spin triplet Cooper pairs in a superconductor (S) sandwiched between a ferromagnet (F) and a normal metal (N$_{\rm so}$) with intrinsic spin-orbit coupling. We show that in the presence of Landau Fermi-liquid interactions the superconducting proximity effect can induce non-locally a ferromagnetic exchange field in the normal layer, which disappears above the superconducting transition temperature of the structure. The internal Landau Fermi-liquid exchange field leads to the onset of a spin supercurr…
Motivated by the recent findings of unconventional superconductivity in $\mathrm{CoSi_2 / TiSi_2}$ heterostructures, we study the effect of interface induced Rashba spin orbit coupling on the conductance of a three terminal "T" shape superconducting device. We calculate the differential conductance for this device within the quasi-classical formalism that includes the mixing of triplet-singlet pairing due to the Rashba spin orbit coupling. We discuss our result in the light of the conductance spectra reported by Chiu {\it et al.} for $\mathrm{CoSi_2 / TiSi_2}$ heterostructures.
In a sandwich consisting of two superconducting films, one weakly pinning and one strongly pinning, the vortex positions in both films are determined by the strongly pinning material and the vortex lattice is disordered in both films. We used (strongly pinning) NbN and (weakly pinning) MoGe and studied, by directly imaging the vortex core positions with a scanning tunnelling microscope, how this disorder is restored with increasing thickness of MoGe layer or when the interface is made insulating. For clean interfaces we find that the first reordering of the vortex lattice is found at a layer t…
In the quasi-twodimensional (Q2D) electron gas of an InAs channel between an AlSb substrate and superconducting Niobium layers the proximity effect induces a pair potential so that a Q2D mesoscopic superconducting-normal-superconducting (SNS) junction forms in the channel. The pair potential is calculated with quasiclassical Green's functions in the clean limit. For such a junction alternating Josephson currents and current-voltage characteristics (CVCs) are computed, using the non-equilibrium quasiparticle wavefunctions which solve the time-dependent Bogoliubov-de Gennes Equations. The CVCs e…
We study the penetration of the nonuniform magnetic field, created by a magnetic dipole with out-of-plane magnetization, into a film heterostructure composed of a type-II superconductor layer and a soft-magnet layer. In the framework of the London approach, the energy of the magnetic dipole-vortex interaction is derived and the critical value of the dipole moment for the first appearance of a vortex in the superconducting constituent is found for two cases of the layer ordering, namely when the dipole is located near the superconducting or, respectively, the magnetic constituent.
The superconducting current has been observed in mesa-heterostructures Nb/Au/Sr2IrO4/YBa2Cu3Ox with Sr2IrO4 interlayer thickness d=5 and 7 nm and in-plane sizes L=10-50 mcm. A strontium iridate, Sr2IrO4, is known as a canted antiferromagnetic insulator at low temperatures and characterized also by the strong spin-orbit interaction due to the impact of the IrO2 plane. The superconducting critical current density jC =0.3 A/cm^2 for the case d=7 nm was observed at T=4.2K. The temperature dependences of the superconducting critical current IC(T) and the voltage position on the I-V curve of the gap…
Bi2Te3/Fe1+yTe heterostructures are known to exhibit interfacial superconductivity between two non-superconducting materials: Fe1+yTe as the parent compound of Fe-based superconducting materials and the topological insulator Bi2Te3. Here, we present a top-down approach starting from two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures to fabricate one-dimensional (1D) Bi2Te3/Fe1+yTe nanowires or narrow nanoribbons. We demonstrate that the Bi2Te3/Fe1+yTe heterostructure remains intact in nanostructures of widths on the order of 100 nm and the interfacial superconductivity is preserved, as evidenced by electri…
The charge distribution is a basic aspect of electrical transport. In this work we investigate the self-consistent charge response of normal-superconducting heterostructures. Of interest is the variation of the charge density due to voltage changes at contacts and due to changes in the potential. We present response functions in terms of functional derivatives of the scattering matrix. We discuss corrections to the Lindhard function due to the proximity of the superconductor. We use these results to find the dynamic conductance matrix to lowest order in frequency. We illustrate similarities an…
Recent theoretical and experimental work has demonstrated how the superconducting critical temperature ($T_c$) can be modified by rotating the magnetization of a single homogeneous ferromagnet proximity-coupled to the superconducting layer. This occurs when the superconductor and ferromagnet are separated by a thin heavy normal metal that provides an enhanced interfacial Rashba spin-orbit interaction. We consider the reciprocal effect: magnetization reorientation driven by the superconducting phase transition. We solve the tight-binding Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations on a lattice self-consiste…
We investigate Josephson junctions among conventional superconducting wires, in the presence of externally applied Zeeman fields and supercurrents. We demonstrate that the critical Josephson current and the current-phase relation of the junction depends on the relative orientation of the applied Zeeman fields and supercurrents. The controllability of the Josephson current relies on the stabilization of conventional superconductivity in high magnetic fields, due to the restoration of the opposite momentum opposite spin projection resonance at the Fermi level. We assert that our results can lead…
Prediction of new superconducting bilayers heterostructures using quantum confinement and proximity effects
Politecnico di Torino（都灵理工大学）；National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute)（国立核研究大学莫斯科工程物理学院）；University of Milan（米兰大学）；University of Göttingen（哥廷根大学）
We report the violation of the Pauli limit due to intrinsic spin-orbit coupling in SrTiO3 heterostructures. Via selective doping down to a few nanometers, a two-dimensional superconductor is formed, geometrically suppressing orbital pair-breaking. The spin-orbit scattering is exposed by the robust in-plane superconducting upper critical field, exceeding the Pauli limit by a factor of 4. Transport scattering times several orders of magnitude higher than for conventional thin film superconductors enables a new regime to be entered, where spin-orbit coupling effects arise non-perturbatively.
The study of Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions in clean, layered two-dimensional superconductors promises to provide insight into a host of novel phenomena like re-entrant vortex-dynamics, underlying unconventional metallic phases, and topological superconductivity. In this letter, we report the study of charge carrier dynamics in a novel 2-dimensional superconducting van der Waals heterostructure comprising monolayer MoS2 and few-layer NbSe2 (15 nm). Using low-frequency conductance fluctuation spectroscopy, we show that the superconducting transition in the system is percolative. We…
We report our results on vortex penetration in two realizations of heterogeneos magneto-superconducting systems (HMSS) based on London approach; semi-infinite ferromagnetic(FM)-superconducting(SC) bilayers and a FM dot on a semi-infinite SC film. In the first case, we study quantitatively the vortex entry in FM-SC bilayers which manifests Bean-Livingston-like vortex barrier, controlled by FM film's magnetization $m$ and SC film's Ginzburg parameter $κ$. In the second case, we investigate the conditions for sponteneous vortex creation and determine the position of vortex for various values of m…
The AC conduction of epitaxially-grown SmB$_6$ thin films and superconducting heterostructures of SmB$_6$/YB$_6$ are investigated via time domain terahertz spectroscopy. A two-channel model of thickness-dependent bulk states and thickness-independent surface states accurately describes the measured conductance of bare SmB$_6$ thin films, demonstrating the presence of surface states in SmB$_6$. While the observed reductions in the simultaneously-measured superconducting gap, transition temperature, and superfluid density of SmB$_6$/YB$_6$ heterostructures relative to bare YB$_6$ indicate the pe…
The description of the proximity effect in superconducting/ferromagnetic heterostructures requires to use spin-dependent boundary conditions. Such boundary conditions must take into account the spin dependence of the phase shifts acquired by electrons upon scattering on the boundaries of ferromagnets. The present article shows that this property can strongly affect the critical temperature and the energy dependence of the density of states of diffusive heterostructures. These effects should allow a better caracterisation of diffusive superconductor/ferromagnet interfaces.
