TY - JOUR
T1 - Extreme magnetic anisotropy and multiple superconducting transition signatures in a [Nb(23 nm)/Ni(5 nm)]5 multilayer
AU - De Long, L. E.
AU - Kryukov, S. A.
AU - Joshi, Amish G.
AU - Xu, Wentao
AU - Bosomtwi, A.
AU - Kirby, B. J.
AU - Fitzsimmons, M. R.
N1 - Funding Information:
Research at the University of Kentucky was supported by U.S. DoE Grant #DE-FG02-97ER45653 and Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation Grant #KSEF-148-502-03-49. A.G.J. was supported as a BOYSCAST Fellow of Indian Ministry of Science and Technology, Grant No. SR/BY/P-01/04. Prof. Jose L. Vicent of the Universidad Complutense, Madrid, contributed Nb/Ni ML for this work.
PY - 2008/4/1
Y1 - 2008/4/1
N2 - We have applied polarized neutron reflectometry, and novel SQUID and vibrating reed magnetometry to probe a [Nb(23 nm)/Ni(5 nm)]5 multilayer (ML) whose superconducting state magnetic anisotropy is dominated by confined (in-plane) supercurrents in DC magnetic fields, H, applied nearly parallel to the ML plane. The upper critical field exhibits abrupt shifts (0.1-0.6 K) in near-parallel fields, but is field-independent for μ0H < 0.8 T when the ML is exactly aligned with the DC field, indicating suppression of orbital pairbreaking and the possible presence of unconventional superconducting pairing states.
AB - We have applied polarized neutron reflectometry, and novel SQUID and vibrating reed magnetometry to probe a [Nb(23 nm)/Ni(5 nm)]5 multilayer (ML) whose superconducting state magnetic anisotropy is dominated by confined (in-plane) supercurrents in DC magnetic fields, H, applied nearly parallel to the ML plane. The upper critical field exhibits abrupt shifts (0.1-0.6 K) in near-parallel fields, but is field-independent for μ0H < 0.8 T when the ML is exactly aligned with the DC field, indicating suppression of orbital pairbreaking and the possible presence of unconventional superconducting pairing states.
KW - Magnetic multilayers
KW - Mesoscopic superconductors
KW - Neutron reflectometry
KW - Superconducting critical field
KW - Superconducting multilayers
KW - Superconducting phase diagrams
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U2 - 10.1016/j.physc.2007.11.073
DO - 10.1016/j.physc.2007.11.073
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:44449161281
SN - 0921-4534
VL - 468
SP - 523
EP - 530
JO - Physica C: Superconductivity and its Applications
JF - Physica C: Superconductivity and its Applications
IS - 7-10
ER -