Article abstract
Nature Materials 3, 793 - 798 (2004)
Published online: 3 October 2004 | doi:10.1038/nmat1222
Subject Categories: Magnetic materials | Superconductors | Surface and thin films
Domain-wall superconductivity in superconductor–ferromagnet hybrids
Zhaorong Yang1, Martin Lange1, Alexander Volodin2, Ritta Szymczak3 & Victor V. Moshchalkov1
Abstract
Superconductivity and magnetism are two antagonistic cooperative phenomena, and the intriguing problem of their coexistence has been studied for several decades. Recently, artificial hybrid superconductor–ferromagnet systems have been commonly used as model systems to reveal the interplay between competing superconducting and magnetic order parameters, and to verify the existence of new physical phenomena, including the predicted domain-wall superconductivity (DWS). Here we report the experimental observation of DWS in superconductor–ferromagnet hybrids using a niobium film on a BaFe12O19 single crystal. We found that the critical temperature Tc of the superconductivity nucleation in niobium increases with increasing field until it reaches the saturation field of BaFe12O19. In accordance with the field-shift of the maximum value of Tc, pronounced hysteresis effects have been found in resistive transitions. We argue that the compensation of the applied field by the stray fields of the magnetic domains as well as the change in the domain structure is responsible for the appearance of the DWS and the coexistence of superconductivity and magnetism in the superconductor–ferromagnet hybrids.
- Nanoscale Superconductivity and Magnetism Group, Laboratory for Solid State Physics and Magnetism, K. U. Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
- Scanning Probe Microscopy Group, Laboratory for Solid State Physics and Magnetism, K. U. Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
- Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics, al. Lotnikow 32/46, Warszawa 02-668, Poland
Correspondence to: Victor V. Moshchalkov1 e-mail: Victor.Moshchalkov@fys.kuleuven.ac.be
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