Interfacial control of vortex-limited critical current in type-II superconductor films
Entity
UAM. Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia CondensadaPublisher
American Physical SocietyDate
2021-11-18Citation
10.1103/PhysRevB.104.184512
Physical Review B 104.18 (2021): 184512
ISSN
1098-0121 (print); 1550-235X (online)DOI
10.1103/PhysRevB.104.184512Project
Gobierno de España. CEX2018- 000805-MEditor's Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.104.184512Subjects
Bean-Livingston Barrier; Film Surfaces; Films Properties; Gate Voltages; Interfacial Control; Interfacial Spins; Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling; Spin-Orbit Couplings; Type II Superconductors; Vortex Penetration; FísicaRights
© 2021 American Physical SocietyAbstract
In a small subset of type-II superconductor films, the critical current is determined by a weakened Bean-Livingston barrier posed by the film surfaces to vortex penetration into the sample. A film property thus depends sensitively on the surface or interface to an adjacent material. We theoretically investigate the dependence of vortex barrier and critical current in such films on the Rashba spin-orbit coupling at their interfaces with adjacent materials. Considering an interface with a magnetic insulator, we find the spontaneous supercurrent resulting from the exchange field and interfacial spin-orbit coupling to substantially modify the vortex surface barrier, consistent with a previous prediction. Thus, we show that the critical currents in superconductor-magnet heterostructures can be controlled, and even enhanced, via the interfacial spin-orbit coupling. Since the latter can be controlled via a gate voltage, our analysis predicts a class of heterostructures amenable to gate-voltage modulation of superconducting critical currents. It also sheds light on the recently observed gate-voltage enhancement of critical current in NbN superconducting films
Files in this item
Google Scholar:Hope, Marius K.
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Amundsen, Morten
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Suri, Dhavala
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Moodera, Jagadeesh S.
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Kamra, Akashdeep
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