The antiferromagnet/superconductor proximity effect in Cr/V/Cr trilayers

Autor: Kurt Westerholt, I. A. Garifullin, D. A. Tikhonov, Hartmut Zabel, M Hübener
Rok vydání: 2002
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. 14:8687-8696
ISSN: 0953-8984
DOI: 10.1088/0953-8984/14/37/305
Popis: We have studied the superconducting properties of (110) textured Cr/V/Cr trilayers grown on Al2O3(1 20), representing an antiferromagnet/superconductor (AF/SC) proximity system. We have prepared several series of samples with either dV, the thickness of the V layer, or dCr, the thickness of the Cr layer being constant, while varying the other thickness. We find an overall good agreement with the classical Werthamer theory of the AF/SC proximity effect, with one noticeable exception. When plotting the superconducting transition temperature as a function of the thickness dCr, we find an anomalous drop of Tc(dCr) at dCr ≈ 6 nm with a sudden quenching of the superconductivity for layer thicknesses dCr ≥ 6 nm. We argue that this drop of Tc might be correlated with the onset of an incommensurate spin density wave state in the Cr film.
Databáze: OpenAIRE