Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Critical current enhancement in a superconducting nanolayer proximitized to a weak-ferromagnetic film

Applied Nanoscience volume 13, pages 4771–4777 (2023)Cite this article

Abstract

Vortex-matter manipulation in nanometer-thin type-II superconducting layers plays a substantial role in the performance of related superconducting devices. A traditional way to avoid deterioration of their transport characteristics is to immobilize the magnetic flux lines by natural or artificially introduced pinning sites inside the nanolayer. An alternative approach can be realized in a planar superconductor-based bilayer with a nanometer-thin ferromagnetic film in close proximity. The interaction between Abrikosov vortices and the magnetization texture in a ferromagnetic layer can provide a pinning potential for them. The effect, called magnetic pinning, is the focus of our research aimed to study coupled metallic multilayers based on different combinations of a weak diluted ferromagnetic (NiCu) and superconducting (NbN) films. The latter include those with an ultra-thin insulating interlayer between the two strips, thus cutting off short-range proximity effect. Measurements of the temperature effect on current–voltage curves for samples with different stacking order of the contacting films have been performed. In some configurations, we found a strong growth of the critical current followed by moderate changes in the critical temperature or their complete absence. Related analysis shows that the underlying mechanism is indeed magnetic vortex pinning that can be enhanced further through magnetization engineering enabling optimization of the pinning strength in desired field ranges.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Availability of data and materials

Datasets are available from the corresponding author on request.

Code availability

Software application is available from the corresponding author on request.

References

  • Adamus Z, Cieplak MZ, Kończykowski M, Zhu LY, Chien CL (2016) Influence of magnetic domain landscape on the flux dynamics in superconductor/ferromagnet bilayers. Phys Rev B 93:054509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aladyshkin AYu, Silhanek AV, Gillijns W, Moshchalkov VV (2009) Nucleation of superconductivity and vortex matter in superconductor–ferromagnet hybrids. Supercond Sci Technol 22:053001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belogolovskii M, Zhitlukhina E, Lacquaniti V, De Leo N, Fretto M, Sosso A (2017) Intrinsically shunted Josephson junctions for electronics applications. Low Temp Phys 43:756–765

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bulaevskii LN, Chudnovsky EM, Maley MP (2000) Magnetic pinning in superconductor-ferromagnet multilayers. Appl Phys Lett 76:2594–2596

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eley S, Glatz A, Will R (2021) Challenges and transformative opportunities in superconductor vortex physics. J Appl Phys 130:050901

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Engel A, Bartolf H, Schilling A, Siegel M, Semenov A, Hübers H-W (2008) J Phys: Temperature- and field-dependence of critical currents in NbN microbridges. Conf Ser 97:012152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jan DB, Coulter JY, Hawley ME, Bulaevskii LN, Maley MP, Jia QX, Maranville BB, Hellman F, Pan XQ (2003) Flux pinning enhancement in ferromagnetic and superconducting thin-film multilayers. Appl Phys Lett 82:778–780

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ketterson JB, Song SN (1999) Superconductivity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Chap, pp 110–139

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kim DH, Cho J, Shim K, Lee SJ, Choi SJ, Lee KW (2011) Uncertainty evaluation for dc critical current determined by using power-law fit to current-voltage curve applicable to superconducting wires and power cables. J Supercond Nov Magn 24:969–974

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lang W, Aichner B, Zechner G, Jausner F, Puzniak R, Klimov A, Słysz W, Guziewicz M, Kruszka R, Węgrzecki M, Sobolewski R (2017) Superconducting fluctuations and magnetic properties of NbN/NiCu and NbTiN/NiCu bilayer nanostructures for photon detection. In: 2017 16th International Superconductive Electronics Conference. Naples, Italy. IEEE, New York, pp 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1109/ISEC.2017.8314232

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lubenchenko AV, Iachuk VA, Krause S, Pavolotsky AB, Ivanov DA, Lubenchenko OI, Pavlov ON (2019) Interface layers of niobium nitride thin films. J Phys: Conf Ser 1410:012124. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1410/1/012124

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marrocco N, Pepe GP, Capretti A, Parlato L, Pagliarulo V, Peluso G, Barone A, Cristiano R, Ejrnaes M, Casaburi A, Kashiwazaki N, Taino T, Myoren H, Sobolewski R (2010) Strong critical current density enhancement in NiCu/NbN superconducting nanostripes for optical detection. Appl Phys Lett 97:092504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matsushita T (2007) Flux pinning mechanisms. Flux Pinning in Superconductors. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 233–265

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Matsushita T, Kiuchi M (2019) Depairing current density in superconductors. Appl Phys Express 12:063003

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Palermo X, Reyren N, Mesoraca S, Samokhvalov AV, Collin S, Godel F, Sander A, Bouzehouane K, Santamaria J, Cros V, Buzdin AI, Villegas JE (2020) Tailored flux pinning in superconductor-ferromagnet multilayers with engineered magnetic domain morphology from stripes to skyrmions. Phys Rev Appl 13:014043

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parlato L, Ejrnaes M, Cristiano R, Myoren H, Pepe GP (2017) Phase-slip phenomena in proximitized NbN/NiCu superconducting nanostripes. J Supercond Nov Magn 30:3403–3407

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rocci M, Suri D, Kamra A, Vilela G, Takamura Y, Nemes NM, Martinez JL, Hernandez MG, Moodera JS (2021) Large enhancement of critical current in superconducting devices by gate voltage. Nano Lett 21:216–221

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roch T, Gregor M, Volkov S, Čaplovičová M, Satrapinskyy L, Plecenik A (2021) Substrate dependent epitaxy of superconducting niobium nitride thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition. Appl Surf Sci 551:149333

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shiino T, Shiba S, Sakai N, Yamakura T, Jiang L, Uzawa Y, Maezawa H, Yamamoto S (2010) Improvement of the critical temperature of superconducting NbTiN and NbN thin films using the AlN buffer layer. Sci Technol 23:045004

    Google Scholar 

  • Veshchunov IS, Oboznov VA, Rossolenko AN, Prokofiev AS, Vinnikov LY, Rusanov AY, Matveev DV (2008) Observation of the magnetic domain structure in Cu0.47Ni0.53 thin films at low temperatures. JETP Lett 88:758–761

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Volkov S, Gregor M, Roch T, Satrapinskyy L, Grančič B, Fiantok T, Plecenik A (2019) Superconducting properties of very high quality NbN thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition. J Electr Eng 70:89–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Wimbush SC (2015) Chap. 1 Fundamentals: Flux pinning. Applied Superconductivity. Wiley, Weinheim, pp 1–104

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang JJ, Su X, Zhang L, Zheng L, Wang XF, You L (2013) Improvement of the superconducting properties of NbN thin film on single-crystal silicon substrate by using a TiN buffer layer. Supercond Sci Technol 26:045010

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was partly supported by the joint Ukrainian-Slovak project “Hybrid superconductor devices for neuromorphic applications” funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the German-Ukrainian collaborative project “Controllable quantum-information transfer in superconducting networks” (DFG project SE 664/21–1, No. 405579680), and the Slovak Research and Development Agency under contracts no. APVV-19–303 and APVV-19–365. E.Zh. acknowledges financial support from Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) under the grant “Non-unitary quantum devices as p-bites for stochastic computing”, the funding program 57552335. M.B. is grateful for the financial support from Volkswagen Stiftung under the grant 9B884 “Novel quantum platforms for cryogenic sensing and stochastic computing”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. O.O. Galkin Donetsk Institute for Physics and Engineering, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, 03028, Ukraine

    Elena Zhitlukhina

  2. Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University, Vinnytsia, 21021, Ukraine

    Elena Zhitlukhina & Mikhail Belogolovskii

  3. Department of Experimental Physics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University in Bratislava, 84248, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

    Magdaléna Poláčková, Serhii Volkov, Branislav Grančič, Maroš Gregor, Tomaš Plecenik & Andrej Plecenik

  4. Kyiv Academic University, Kyiv, 03142, Ukraine

    Mikhail Belogolovskii

  5. Institut für Festkörperphysik, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, 07743, Jena, Germany

    Elena Zhitlukhina, Mikhail Belogolovskii & Paul Seidel

Authors
  1. Elena Zhitlukhina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Magdaléna Poláčková
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Serhii Volkov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Branislav Grančič
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Maroš Gregor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Tomaš Plecenik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Mikhail Belogolovskii
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Paul Seidel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Andrej Plecenik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

The authors contributed equally to the work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elena Zhitlukhina.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhitlukhina, E., Poláčková, M., Volkov, S. et al. Critical current enhancement in a superconducting nanolayer proximitized to a weak-ferromagnetic film. Appl Nanosci 13, 4771–4777 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-022-02614-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-022-02614-3

Keyword

search

Navigation