Magnetic Proximity Effects in V/Fe Superconductor/Ferromagnet Single Bilayer Revealed by Waveguide-Enhanced Polarized Neutron Reflectometry

• Polarized neutron reflectometry is used to study the magnetic proximity effect in a superconductor/ferromagnet (SC/FM) system of composition Cu(32 nm)/ V(40 nm)/Fe(1 nm)/MgO. In contrast to previous studies, here a single SC/FM bilayer, is studied and multilayer artefacts are excluded. The necessary signal enhancement is achieved by waveguide resonance, i.e., preparing the V(40 nm)/Fe(1 nm) SC/FM bilayer sandwiched by the highly reflective MgO substrate and Cu top layer, respectively. A new magnetic state of the system was observed at temperatures below 0.7TC manifested in a systematic change in the height and width of the waveguide resonance peak. Upon increasing the temperature from 0.7TC to TC, a gradual decay of this state is observed, accompanied by a 5% growth of the diffuse scattering. This behavior can be explained in a natural way by the polarization of the superconducting electrons upon the SC transition, i.e., an appearance of additional induced magnetization within the SC, due to the proximity of the FM layer.

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NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Den kondenserade materiens fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Condensed Matter Physics (hsv//eng)

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