Experimental Observation of the Spin Screening Effect in Superconductor/Ferromagnet Thin Film Heterostructures

Abstract

We have studied the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of 51V nuclei in the superconductor/ferromagnet thin film heterostructures Pd_{1-x}Fe_{x}/V/Pd_{1-x}Fe_{x} and Ni/V/Ni in the normal and superconducting state. Whereas the position and shape of the NMR line in the normal state for the trilayers is identical to that observed in a single V layer, in the superconducting state the line shape definitely changes, developing a systematic distortion of the high-field wing of the resonance line. We consider this as the first experimental evidence for the penetration of ferromagnetism into the superconducting layer, a phenomenon which has been theoretically predicted recently and dubbed the spin screening effect.