Charge Supercurrent Research Articles

Anisotropic supercurrent due to inhomogeneous magnetization in ferromagnet/superconductor junctions

We investigate transverse charge and spin dc supercurrents in a ferromagnet coupled to a superconductor where the ferromagnet has inhomogeneous magnetic structure. These transverse supercurrents arise from nontrivial structure of the magnetization. The magnetic structure manifested in the transverse charge supercurrent is essentially different from that discussed in the context of anomalous Hall effect, reflecting the dissipationless nature of supercurrent. Possible candidates of magnetic structure to verify our prediction are also discussed.

Evolution of pair correlation symmetries and supercurrent reversal in tilted Weyl semimetals

We study the effective symmetry profiles of superconducting pair correlations and the flow of charge supercurrent in ballistic Weyl semimetal systems with a tilted dispersion relation. Utilizing a microscopic method in the ballistic regime and starting from both opposite-pseudospin and equal-pseudospin phonon-mediated opposite-spin electron-electron couplings, we calculate the anomalous Green's function to study various superconducting pair correlations that Weyl semimetal systems may develop. The momentum-space profile reveals that by properly manipulating the parameters of Weyl semimetal systems, including the tilting parameter, the effective symmetry class of even-parity s-wave (odd-parity p-wave) superconducting correlations can be converted into a d-wave (f-wave) symmetry class that consists of equal-pseudospin and opposite-pseudospin channels. We also find that the supercurrent in a ballistic Weyl Josephson junction can be made to vanish or switch directions, depending on the tilt of the Weyl cones, in addition to the relevant parameters characterizing the Weyl semimetal and junction. We show that inversion symmetry breaking terms introduce transitions that result in the appearance of self-biased current at zero difference between the macroscopic phases of the superconducting segments, creating a phi0 Josephson state. Weyl semimetal systems are shown to offer several experimentally tunable parameters to control the induction of higher harmonics into the current phase relations.

Spin supercurrent in two-dimensional superconductors with Rashba spin-orbit interaction

Spin current is a central theme in spintronics, and its generation is a keen issue. The spin-polarized current injection from the ferromagnet, spin battery, and spin Hall effect have been used to generate spin current, but Ohmic currents in the normal state are involved in all of these methods. On the other hand, the spin and spin current manipulation by the supercurrent in superconductors is a promising route for dissipationless spintronics. Here we show theoretically that, in two-dimensional superconductors with Rashba spin-orbit interaction, the generation of dissipationless bulk spin current by charge supercurrent becomes highly efficient, exceeding that in normal states in the dilute limit, i.e. when the chemical potential is close to the band edge, although the spin density becomes small there. This result manifests the possibility of creating new spintronic devices with long-range coherence.

Direct and inverse superspin Hall effect in two-dimensional systems: Electrical detection of spin supercurrents

A useful experimental signature of the ordinary spin Hall effect is the spin accumulation it produces at the sample edges. The superspin Hall current [Phys. Rev. B 96, 094512 (2017)] is a transverse equilibrium spin current which is induced by a charge supercurrent. We study the superspin Hall current numerically, and find that it does not give rise to a similar edge magnetization. We also predict and numerically confirm the existence of the inverse superspin Hall effect, which produces a transverse charge supercurrent in response to an equilibrium spin current. We verify the existence of the inverse superspin Hall effect both for a spin-polarized charge supercurrent and an exchange spin current, and propose that a $\phi_0$ junction produced by the inverse superspin Hall effect can be used to directly and electrically measure the spin polarization of a charge supercurrent. This provides a possible way to solve the long-standing problem of how to directly detect the spin-polarization of supercurrents carried by triplet Cooper pairs.

Self-biased current, magnetic interference response, and superconducting vortices in tilted Weyl semimetals with disorder

We have generalized a quasiclassical model for Weyl semimetals with a tilted band in the presence of an externally applied magnetic field. This model is applicable to ballistic, moderately disordered, and samples containing a high density of nonmagnetic impurities. We employ this formalism and show that a self-biased supercurrent, creating a {\phi}0-junction, can flow through a triplet channel in Weyl semimetals. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that multiple supercurrent reversals are accessible through varying junction thickness and parameters characterizing Weyl semimetals. We discuss the influence of different parameters on the Fraunhofer response of charge supercurrent, and how these parameters are capable of shifting the locations of proximity-induced vortices in the triplet channel.

Intrinsic superspin Hall current

We discover an intrinsic superspin Hall current: an injected charge supercurrent in a Josephson junction containing heavy normal metals and a ferromagnet generates a transverse spin supercurrent. There is no accompanying dissipation of energy, in contrast to the conventional spin Hall effect. The physical origin of the effect is an antisymmetric spin density induced among transverse modes $k_y$ near the interface of the superconductor arising due to the coexistence of $p$-wave and conventional $s$-wave superconducting correlations with a belonging phase mismatch. Our predictions can be tested in hybrid structures including thin heavy metal layers combined with strong ferromagnets and ordinary $s$-wave superconductors.

Charge and spin currents in ferromagnetic Josephson junctions

We determine, using a self consistent method, the charge and spin currents in ballistic Josephson junctions consisting of ferromagnetic ($F$) layers sandwiched between superconducting ($S$) electrodes ($SFS$-type junctions). When there are two $F$ layers, we also consider the experimentally relevant configuration where a normal ($N$) nonmagnetic spacer layer separates them. We study the current-phase relationships as functions of geometrical parameters that are accessible experimentally including the angles that characterize the relative orientation of the magnetization in the $F$ layers. Our self-consistent method ensures that the proper charge conservation laws are satisfied. As we vary the phase difference $\Delta\varphi$ between the two outer $S$ electrodes, multiple harmonics in the current phase relations emerge, their extent depends on the interface scattering strength and the relative $F$ layer widths and magnetization orientations. By manipulating the relative $F$ layer magnetization orientations, we find that the charge supercurrent can reverse directions or vanish altogether. These findings are discussed in the context of the generation and long-range nature of triplet pair correlation. We also investigate the spin currents and associated spin transfer torques throughout the junction. For noncollinear relative magnetizations, the non-conserved spin currents in a given $F$ region gives rise to net torques that can switch directions at particular magnetic configurations or $\Delta\varphi$ values. The details of the spin current behavior are shown to depend strongly on the degree of magnetic inhomogeneity in the system.

Spin supercurrent, magnetization dynamics, andφ-state in spin-textured Josephson junctions

The prospect of combining the dissipationless nature of superconducting currents with the spin-polarization of magnetic materials is interesting with respect to exploring superconducting analogues of topics in spintronics. In order to accomplish this aim, it is pivotal to understand how spin-supercurrents interact dynamically with magnetization textures. We investigate the appearance of a spin-supercurrent and the resulting magnetization dynamics in a textured magnetic Josephson current by using three experimentally relevant models: i) a S/F/S junction with spin-active interfaces, ii) a S/F1/F2/F3/S Josephson junction with a ferromagnetic trilayer, and iii) a Josephson junction containing a domain wall. In all of these cases, the supercurrent is spin-polarized and exerts a spin-transfer torque on the ferromagnetic interlayers which causes magnetization dynamics. Using a scattering matrix formalism in the clean limit, we compute the Andreev-bound states and free energy of the system which is used to solve the Landau-Lifshiftz-Gilbert equation. We compute both how the inhomogeneous magnetism influences the phase-dependence of the charge supercurrent as well as the magnetization dynamics caused by the spin-supercurrent. Using a realistic experimental parameter set, we find that the supercurrent can induce magnetization switching that is controlled by the superconducting phase difference. Moreover, we demonstrate that the combined effect of chiral spin symmetry breaking and interface scattering causes the system to act as a phase battery that may supply any superconducting phase difference phi in the ground state. Such a phi junction is accompanied by an anomalous supercurrent appearing even at zero phase difference, and we demonstrate that the flow direction of this current is controlled by the chirality of the magnetization configuration.

Spin-controlled coexistence of 0 andπstates inSFSFSJosephson junctions

Using the Keldysh-Usadel formalism, we theoretically study the $0$-$\pi$ transition profiles and current-phase relations of magnetic $SFSFS$ and $SFSFFS$ Josephson nanojunctions in the diffusive regime. By allowing the magnetizations of the ferromagnetic layers to take arbitrary orientations, the strength and direction of the charge supercurrent flowing through the ferromagnetic regions can be controlled via the magnetization rotation in one of the ferromagnetic layers. Depending on the junction parameters, we find opposite current flow in the ferromagnetic layers, revealing that remarkably such configurations possess well-controlled $0$- and $\pi$-states simultaneously, creating a three-terminal $0$-$\pi$ spin switch. We demonstrate that the spin-controlled $0$-$\pi$ profiles trace back to the proximity induced odd-frequency superconducting correlations generated by the ferromagnetic layers. It is also shown that the spin-switching effect can be more pronounced in $SFSFFS$ structures. The current-phase relations reveal the important role of the middle $S$ electrode, where the spin controlled supercurrent depends crucially on its thickness and phase differences with the outer $S$ terminals.

Spin supercurrent in Josephson contacts with noncollinear ferromagnets

We present a theoretical study of the Josephson coupling of two superconductors that are connected through a diffusive contact consisting of noncollinear ferromagnetic domains. The leads are conventional s-wave superconductors with a phase difference of φ. Firstly, we consider a contact with two domains with magnetization vectors misoriented by an angle θ. Using the quantum circuit theory, we found that in addition to the charge supercurrent, which shows a 0–π transition relative to the angle θ, a spin supercurrent with a spin polarization normal to the magnetization vectors flows between the domains. While the charge supercurrent is odd in φ and even in θ, the spin supercurrent is even in φ and odd in θ. Furthermore, with asymmetric insulating barriers at the interfaces of the junction, the system may experience an antiferromagnetic–ferromagnetic phase transition for φ=π. Secondly, we discuss the spin supercurrent in an extended magnetic texture with multiple domain walls. We find the position-dependent spin supercurrent. While the direction of the spin supercurrent is always perpendicular to the plane of the magnetization vectors, the magnitude of the spin supercurrent strongly depends on the phase difference between the superconductors and the number of domain walls. In particular, our results reveal the high sensitivity of spin- and charge-transport in the junction to the number of domain walls in the ferromagnet. We show that superconductivity in coexistence with noncollinear magnetism can be used in a Josephson nanodevice to create a controllable spin supercurrent acting as a spin transfer torque on a system. Our results demonstrate the possibility of coupling the superconducting phase to the magnetization dynamics and, hence, constituting a quantum interface, for example between the magnetization and a superconducting qubit.