Proximity and coupling effects in superconductor/ferromagnet multilayers (invited)

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Abstract
New features in superconductor/ferromagnet multilayers have been observed. A nonmonotonic dependence of the superconducting Tc on the ferromagnetic layer thickness, due to the coupling across a thin magnetic layer, has been observed in both Nb/Gd multilayers and trilayers. The results are consistent with those of the predicted π-phase coupling. Effects on superconductivity due to insulating ferromagnetic layers have been observed in NbN/GdN multilayers, where the main pair-breaking effect is that of the ferromagnetic walls. The insulating ferromagnetic layers also give rise to very large superconducting critical fields.