First order phase transitions in Ferromagnet/Superconductor layered structures

Abstract

We study the thermodynamics of clean structures composed of superconductor (S) and ferromagnet (F) layers and consisting of one or more SFS junctions. We use fully self consistent numerical methods to compute the condensation free energies of the possible order parameter configurations as a function of temperature $T$. As $T$ varies, we find that there are phase transitions between states characterized by different junction configurations (denoted as ``0'' or ``$\pi$'' according to the phase difference of the order parameter in consecutive S layers). We show that these transitions are of first order. We calculate the associated latent heats and find them to be measurable.

4 pages including 3 figures. RevTeX

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Spin-polarized supercurrents for spintronics: a review of current progress
• Thermodynamics and Phase Diagrams of layered superconductor/ferromagnet nanostructures
• Scattering by magnetic and spin-orbit impurities and the Josephson current in superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor junctions
• Competitive 0 and π states in S/F multilayers: multimode approach
• First order $0$ - $\pi$ phase transitions in superconductor/ferromagnet/superconductor trilayers
• Interference phenomena in Josephson junctions with ferromagnetic bilayers: Spin-triplet correlations and resonances