Controlled injection of spin-triplet supercurrents into a strong ferromagnet

Abstract

The superconductor-ferromagnet proximity effect describes the fast decay of a spin-singlet supercurrent originating from the superconductor upon entering the neighboring ferromagnet. After placing a conical magnet (holmium) at the interface between the two, we detected a long-ranged supercurrent in the ferromagnetic layer. The long-range effect required particular thicknesses of the spiral magnetically ordered holmium, consistent with spin-triplet proximity theory. This enabled control of the electron pairing symmetry by tuning the degree of magnetic inhomogeneity through the thicknesses of the holmium injectors.