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Controlling superconducting spin flow with spin-flip immunity using a single homogeneous ferromagnet

Spin transport via electrons is typically plagued by Joule heating and short decay lengths due to spin-flip scattering. It is known that dissipationless spin currents can arise when using conventional superconducting contacts, yet this has only been experimentally demonstrated when using intricate m...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Jacobsen, Sol H., Kulagina, Iryna, Linder, Jacob
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4820725/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27045733
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep23926
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author Jacobsen, Sol H.
Kulagina, Iryna
Linder, Jacob
author_facet Jacobsen, Sol H.
Kulagina, Iryna
Linder, Jacob
author_sort Jacobsen, Sol H.
collection PubMed
description Spin transport via electrons is typically plagued by Joule heating and short decay lengths due to spin-flip scattering. It is known that dissipationless spin currents can arise when using conventional superconducting contacts, yet this has only been experimentally demonstrated when using intricate magnetically inhomogeneous multilayers, or in extreme cases such as half-metals with interfacial magnetic disorder. Moreover, it is unknown how such spin supercurrents decay in the presence of spin-flip scattering. Here, we present a method for generating a spin supercurrent by using only a single homogeneous magnetic element. Remarkably, the spin supercurrent generated in this way does not decay spatially, in stark contrast to normal spin currents that remain polarized only up to the spin relaxation length. We also expose the existence of a superconductivity-mediated torque even without magnetic inhomogeneities, showing that the different components of the spin supercurrent polarization respond fundamentally differently to a change in the superconducting phase difference. This establishes a mechanism for tuning dissipationless spin and charge flow separately, and confirms the advantage that superconductors can offer in spintronics.
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spelling pubmed-48207252016-04-06 Controlling superconducting spin flow with spin-flip immunity using a single homogeneous ferromagnet Jacobsen, Sol H. Kulagina, Iryna Linder, Jacob Sci Rep Article Spin transport via electrons is typically plagued by Joule heating and short decay lengths due to spin-flip scattering. It is known that dissipationless spin currents can arise when using conventional superconducting contacts, yet this has only been experimentally demonstrated when using intricate magnetically inhomogeneous multilayers, or in extreme cases such as half-metals with interfacial magnetic disorder. Moreover, it is unknown how such spin supercurrents decay in the presence of spin-flip scattering. Here, we present a method for generating a spin supercurrent by using only a single homogeneous magnetic element. Remarkably, the spin supercurrent generated in this way does not decay spatially, in stark contrast to normal spin currents that remain polarized only up to the spin relaxation length. We also expose the existence of a superconductivity-mediated torque even without magnetic inhomogeneities, showing that the different components of the spin supercurrent polarization respond fundamentally differently to a change in the superconducting phase difference. This establishes a mechanism for tuning dissipationless spin and charge flow separately, and confirms the advantage that superconductors can offer in spintronics. Nature Publishing Group 2016-04-05 /pmc/articles/PMC4820725/ /pubmed/27045733 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep23926 Text en Copyright © 2016, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Jacobsen, Sol H.
Kulagina, Iryna
Linder, Jacob
Controlling superconducting spin flow with spin-flip immunity using a single homogeneous ferromagnet
title Controlling superconducting spin flow with spin-flip immunity using a single homogeneous ferromagnet
title_full Controlling superconducting spin flow with spin-flip immunity using a single homogeneous ferromagnet
title_fullStr Controlling superconducting spin flow with spin-flip immunity using a single homogeneous ferromagnet
title_full_unstemmed Controlling superconducting spin flow with spin-flip immunity using a single homogeneous ferromagnet
title_short Controlling superconducting spin flow with spin-flip immunity using a single homogeneous ferromagnet
title_sort controlling superconducting spin flow with spin-flip immunity using a single homogeneous ferromagnet
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4820725/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27045733
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep23926
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