Proximity effects in superconducting hybrid structures with spin-dependent interactions

Abstract

When superconductors are contacted by other, non-superconducting materials, the latter may attain some of the properties of the former, and vice versa. This is the origin of a wealth of interesting phenomena. A striking example is the coexistence of superconductivity and ferromagnetism in superconductor-ferromagnet hybrid structures, which under certain conditions gives rise to dissipationless spin transport.

In this work a variety of superconducting hybrid structures are investigated theoretically using the quasiclassical Green function formalism. Focus is given to two- and three-dimensional geometries, the study of which has been made possible with the use of a numerical framework known as the finite element method.

Among several topics discussed are superconducting vortices nucleated in non-superconducting materials without the application of external magnetic fields. The generation of long ranged triplet superconducting correlations in superconductor-ferromagnet structures is also explored, either as generated by an inhomogeneity of the magnetisation, or by spin-orbit coupling.