Ferromagnetic features of zero-bias conductance peaks in a ferromagnet/insulator/superconductor junction

Abstract

We present a general formula for tunneling conductance in ballistic ferromagnet/ferromagnetic insulator/superconductor junctions where the superconducting state has the opposite spin pairing symmetry. The formula shows, correctly, that ferromagnetism has been induced by the effective mass difference between up- and down-spin electrons. This effectively mass mismatched ferromagnet and a standard Stoner ferromagnet have been employed in this paper. As an application of the formulation, we have studied the tunneling effect for junctions including a spin-triplet p-wave superconductor, where we choose a normal insulator for the insulating region, although our formula can be used for a ferromagnetic insulator. Then, we have been able to devote our attention to features of a ferromagnetic metal. The conductance spectra show a clear difference between the two ferromagnets depending upon the method of normalization of the conductance. In particular, an essential difference is seen in the zero-bias conductance peaks, reflecting the characteristics of each ferromagnet. From the obtained results, we suggest that the measurements of the tunneling conductance in the junction provide us with useful information about the mechanism of itinerant ferromagnetism in metals.