Spectroscopy and critical temperature of diffusive superconducting/ferromagnetic hybrid structures with spin-active interfaces

Abstract

The description of the proximity effect in superconducting/ferromagnetic heterostructures requires use of spin-dependent boundary conditions. Such boundary conditions must take into account the spin dependence of the phase shifts acquired by electrons upon scattering on the boundaries of ferromagnets. The present article shows that this property can strongly affect the critical temperature and the energy dependence of the density of states of diffusive heterostructures. These effects should allow a better characterization of diffusive superconductor/ferromagnet interfaces.