Influence of spin-dependent quasiparticle distribution on the Josephson current through a ferromagnetic weak link

Abstract

The Josephson current flowing through weak links containing ferromagnetic elements is studied theoretically under the condition that the quasiparticle distribution over energy states in the interlayer is spin dependent. It is shown that the interplay between the spin-dependent quasiparticle distribution and the triplet superconducting correlations induced by the proximity effect between the superconducting leads and ferromagnetic elements of the interlayer leads to the appearence of an additional contribution to the Josephson current. This additional contribution ${j}_{t}$ can be extracted from the full Josephson current in experiment. The features of the additional supercurrent ${j}_{t}$, which are of main physical interest are the following: i) We propose the experimental setup, where the contributions given by the short-range triplet component (SRTC) and long-range triplet component (LRTC) of superconducting correlations in the interlayer can be measured separately. It can be realized on the basis of a S/N/F/N/S junction, where the interlayer is composed of two normal metal regions with a spiral ferromagnet layer sandwiched between them. For the case of tunnel junctions, the measurement of ${j}_{t}$ in such a system can provide direct information about the energy-resolved anomalous Green's function components describing SRTC and LRTC. ii) In some cases the exchange field-suppressed supercurrent can be not only recovered but also enhanced with respect to its value for a nonmagnetic junction with the same interface resistances by the presence of a spin-dependent quasiparticle distribution. This effect is demonstrated for the S/N/S junction with magnetic S/N interfaces. In addition, it is also found that under the considered conditions the dependence of the Josephson current on temperature can be nontrivial: At first, the current rises upon the temperature increasing and only after that starts to decline.