Spin Proximity Effect in Ultrathin Superconducting Be-Au Bilayers

X. S. Wu; P. W. Adams; Y. Yang; R. L. McCarley

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.127002

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Spin Proximity Effect in Ultrathin Superconducting Be-Au Bilayers

X. S. Wu, P. W. Adams, Y. Yang, R. L. McCarley

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.127002 · Physical Review Letters

T1

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Abstract

We present a detailed study of the effects of interface spin-orbit coupling on the critical field behavior of ultrathin superconducting Be/Au bilayers. Parallel field measurements were made in bilayers with Be thicknesses in the range of d=2–30 nm and Au coverages of 0.5 nm. Though the Au had little effect on the superconducting gap, it produced profound changes in the spin states of the system. In particular, the parallel critical field exceeded the Clogston limit by an order of magnitude in the thinnest films studied. In addition, the parallel critical field unexpectedly scaled as Hc∥/Δ0∝1/d, suggesting that the spin-orbit coupling energy was proportional to Δ0/d2. Tilted field measurements showed that, contrary to recent theory, the interface spin-orbit coupling induces a large in-plane superconducting susceptibility but only a very small transverse susceptibility.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

Formula	Reported Tc (K)	Pressure (GPa)	Type
Be Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	0.68	Pressure not reported	unknown
CePt3Si Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	—	Pressure not reported	unknown