Spin-orbit driven superconducting proximity effects in Pt/Nb thin films
M. G. Flokstra, Rhea Stewart, Chi Ming Yim, Christopher Trainer, Peter Wahl, David Miller, Nathan Satchell, Gavin Burnell, H. Luetkens, Thomas Prokscha, Andreas Suter, E. Morenzoni, I. V. Bobkova, Alexander M. Bobkov, Stephen Lee
Abstract
Manipulating the spin state of thin layers of superconducting material is a promising route to generate dissipationless spin currents in spintronic devices. Approaches typically focus on using thin ferromagnetic elements to perturb the spin state of the superconducting condensate to create spin-triplet correlations. We have investigated simple structures that generate spin-triplet correlations without using ferromagnetic elements. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy and muon-spin rotation are used to probe the local electronic and magnetic properties of our hybrid structures, demonstrating a paramagnetic contribution to the magnetization that partially cancels the Meissner screening. This spin-orbit generated magnetization is shown to derive from the spin of the equal-spin pairs rather than from their orbital motion and is an important development in the field of superconducting spintronics.