Underlying mechanism discovered for magnetic effect in superconducting spintronics

The emerging field of spintronics leverages electron spin and magnetization. This could enhance the storage capacity of computer hard drives and potentially play an important role in quantum computing's future. Superconductor-ferromagnet (SF) structures are widely regarded as the building blocks of this superconducting spintronic technology. More conventional spintronic devices typically require large currents, so researchers are investigating the viability of low-resistance superconductors. Their new results could answer longstanding questions about how SF structures interact.

An international team of researchers recently revealed a general mechanism of the long-range electromagnetic proximity effect in SF structures in Applied Physics Letters. They explain that SF interactions led to a strong spread of stray magnetic field to the superconductor from the ferromagnet. The group's findings could help determine why ferromagnetic films transferred magnetic fields to their corresponding superconductors at distances longer than theoretically predicted.

"We expect our work will not only explain the existing puzzling experimental data onelectrodynamics of superconductor-ferromagnet structures but also will provide the basis for the analysis of electrodynamics of any device of superconducting spintronics," Alexander Buzdin and Alexander Mel'nikov, co-authors of the paper, said in a joint statement.