Quasiparticle energy spectrum in ferromagnetic Josephson weak links

Abstract

The quasiparticles energy spectrum in clean ferromagnetic weak links between conventional superconductors is calculated. Large peaks in DOS, due to a special case of Andreev reflection at the ferromagnetic barrier, correspond to spin-splitt bound states. Their energies are obtained as a function of the barrier thickness, exchange field strength, and of the macroscopic phase difference $\varphi$ at the link, related to the Josephson current. In the ground state, $\varphi$ can be 0 or $\pi$, depending on the ferromagnetic barrier influence. Conditions for the appearence of the zero-energy bound states (ZES) and for the spin polarized ground state (SPGS) are obtained analytically. It is shown that ZES appear only outside the weak link ground state.

11 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Tunneling into Current-Carrying Surface States of High T${}_c$ Superconductors
• Spontaneous Currents in Josephson Devices

Cited by in corpus (8)

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• Nonsinusoidal current-phase relation in SFS Josephson junctions
• Spontaneous Spin Polarized Currents in Superconductor-Ferromagnetic Metal Heterostructures
• Exchange induced ordinary reflection in a single-channel superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor junction
• The physics of superconductor-ferromagnet hybrid structures