Magnetoquenched superconducting valve with bilayer ferromagnetic film for uniaxial switching

Abstract

A bilayer ferromagnetic film, consisting of a soft- and hard-magnetic layer separated by a nonmagnetic layer, has been incorporated into a magnetoquenched superconducting valve, making it possible to control the valve with uniaxial magnetic fields. Device switching is demonstrated with fields as small as 20 Oe. The switch is inherently nonvolatile, has linear output characteristics, and requires a single inductively coupled “write wire” for integrated operation, all of which make it promising for application as a storage cell in a high-density superconducting random-access memory.