Controllable generation of a spin-triplet supercurrent in a Josephson spin valve

Abstract

It has been predicted theoretically that an unconventional odd-frequency spin-triplet component of a superconducting order parameter can be induced in multilayered ferromagnetic structures with noncollinear magnetization. In this work, we study experimentally nanoscale devices, in which a ferromagnetic spin valve is embedded into a Josephson junction. We demonstrate two ways of in situ analysis of such Josephson spin valves: via magnetoresistance measurements and via in situ magnetometry based on flux quantization in the junction. We observe that supercurrent through the device depends on the relative orientation of magnetizations of the two ferromagnetic layers and is enhanced in the noncollinear state of the spin valve. We attribute this phenomenon to controllable generation of the spin-triplet superconducting component in a ferromagnet.