Spin-polarized superconductivity for spintronics

The feasibility of superconducting spintronics depends on the spin sensitivity of ferromagnets to the spin of equal-spin triplet Cooper pairs (1). Such pairs are generated at superconductor(S) / ferromagnet(F) interfaces in which certain forms of magnetic inhomogeneity (2,3) are present. In this talk I will introduce the topic of the triplet proximity effect in S-F heterostructures and will discuss my group's recent progress, which includes: spin-selectivity of triplet Cooper pairs in F-S-F superconducting spin-valves (4) and evidence for the formation of a spin-polarized superconducting densities of state in an s-wave superconductor proximity coupled to a magnetically inhomogeneous antiferromagnet (5). \begin{enumerate} \item 1. J Linder and JWA Robinson. \textit{Nature Physics} 11, 307 (2015). \item 2. JWA Robinson, JDS Witt, MG Blamire. \textit{Science} 329, 59 (2010). \item 3. C Klose \textit{et al.,} \textit{Phys. Rev. Lett. }108, 127002 (2012). \item 4. N Banerjee, C Smiet, R Smits, A Ozaeta, F Bergeret, M Blamire, JWA Robinson, \textit{Nature Comm.} 5, 3048 (2014). \item 5. A Di Bernardo, S Diesch, Y Gu, J Linder, G Divitini, C Ducati, E Scheer, MG Blamire, JWA Robinson, \textit{Nature Comm.} 6, 8053 (2015). \end{enumerate}