Proximity and Josephson effects in superconductor - antiferromagnetic Nb / γ-Fe50Mn50 heterostructures

Abstract

We study the proximity effect in superconductor (S), antiferromagnetic (AF) bilayers, and report the fabrication and measurement of the first trilayer S/AF/S Josephson junctions. The disordered f.c.c. alloy γ-Fe50Mn50 was used as the AF, and the S is Nb. Micron and sub-micron scale junctions were measured, and the scaling of $J_C(d_{A}F)$ gives a coherence length in the AF of 2.4 nm, which correlates with the coherence length due to suppression of $T_C$ in the bilayer samples. The diffusion constant for FeMn was found to be 1.7 \times 10${}^{-4}$ m${}^2$ s${}^{-}1$, and the density of states at the Fermi level was also obtained. An exchange biased FeMn/Co bilayer confirms the AF nature of the FeMn in this thickness regime.

6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for Phys. Rev. B