Electron transport in hybrid superconductor heterostructures with manganite interlayers

Abstract

Hybrid herostructures comprising an YBa(2)Cu(3)O (x) (YBCO) high-temperature superconductor (HTS) layer and Nb/Au low-temperature superconductor (LTS) bilayer (with critical HTS and LTS temperatures T (c) and T'(c), respectively), separated by a thin (d (M) = 5-20 nm) interlayer of LaMnO(3), La(0.7)Ca(0.3)MnO(3), or La(0.7)Sr(0.3)MnO(3) manganite have been studied. The electric resistance and magnetic properties of individual (evaporated directly onto the substrate) manganite films and related hybrid herostructures have been measured. Based on quasi-classical equations, analytical expressions for the conductivity of herostructures at T a parts per thousand currency sign T'(c) are obtained in the case of a low-transparency superconductor/manganite interface. It is established that the conductivity of heterostructures is determined by the proximity effect (related to the penetration of a condensate wavefunction from the Nb/Au bilayer to manganite) and depends strongly on interface transparency. At low temperatures (T a parts per thousand(a) T (c)'), the conductivity peaks are found at voltages determined by the exchange field of the manganite interlayer. At T (c)' < T < T (c), conductivity features at nearly zero bias voltages are observed, which are related to the superconductivity of the YBCO electrode.