English

sin(2 phi) current-phase relation in SFS junctions with decoherence in the ferromagnet

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2007-05-23 v2 Superconductivity

Abstract

We propose a theoretical description of the sin(2 phi) current-phase relation in SFS junctions at the 0-π\pi cross-over obtained in recent experiments by Sellier et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 257005 (2004)] where it was suggested that a strong decoherence in the magnetic alloy can explain the magnitude of the residual supercurrent at the 0-pi cross-over. To describe the interplay between decoherence and elastic scattering in the ferromagnet we use an analogy with crossed Andreev reflection in the presence of disorder. The supercurrent as a function of the length R of the ferromagnet decays exponentially over a length xi, larger than the elastic scattering length ldl_d in the absence of decoherence, and smaller than the coherence length lϕl_\phi in the absence of elastic scattering on impurities. The best fit leads to ξξh(diff)/3\xi \simeq \xi_h^{({\rm diff})}/3, where ξh(diff)\xi_h^{({\rm diff})} is exchange length of the diffusive system without decoherence (also equal to ξ\xi in the absence of decoherence). The fit of experiments works well for the amplitude of both the sin(phi) and sin(2 phi) harmonics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0406275,
  title  = {sin(2 phi) current-phase relation in SFS junctions with decoherence in the ferromagnet},
  author = {R. Mélin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0406275},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

7 pages, 3 figures, article rewritten