Tunneling conductance in superconductor/ferromagnet junctions: Self-consistent approach

Abstract

We evaluate the tunneling conductance of clean ferromagnet/superconductor junctions via a fully self-consistent numerical solution of the microscopic Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. We present results for a relevant range of values of the Fermi wave-vector mismatch (FWM), the spin polarization, and the interfacial scattering strength. For nonzero spin polarization, the conductance curves vary nonmonotonically with FWM. The FWM dependence of our results is stronger than that previously found in non-self-consistent calculations since, in the self-consistent case, the effective scattering potential near the interface depends on the FWM. The dependence on interfacial scattering is monotonic. These results confirm that it is impossible to characterize both the FWM and the interfacial scattering by a single effective parameter and that analysis of experimental data via the use of such one-parameter models is unreliable.