Effects of spin-orbit coupling in superconducting spintronics

Abstract

Superconducting spintronics is an emerging field which creates a synergy between traditional spintronics and superconductivity through the creation of equal spin-paired electrons (triplet Cooper pairs) [1]. These triplet Cooper pairs are immune to the pair breaking exchange field in a ferromagnet and can propagate over length scales which are significantly longer than the conventional singlet Cooper pair coherence lengths in ferromagnets. These dissipationless triplet currents carry a net spin which raises the intriguing possibility of ultra-low-dissipation superconducting spintronics. Traditionally these triplet pairs were generated through complex inhomogeneous magnetic textures which are often difficult to create and control [2,3]. Recently, several experimental and theoretical studies reported the creation and control of triplet Cooper pairs using spin-orbit coupling thereby simplifying the structures [4-7]. I will discuss the recent progress in this area, specifically focussing on two recent results: controlling the superconducting transition temperature using spin-orbit coupling [4] and superconductivity driven magnetisation reorientation [8].