Electromagnetic Aharonov-Bohm like proximity effect in planar superconductor-ferromagnet structures
Prof Alexander Buzdin (the University of Bordeaux and University of Cambridge)
The spread of the Cooper pairs into the ferromagnet in proximity coupled superconductor – ferromagnet (SF) structures is shown to cause a strong inverse electrodynamic phenomenon, namely, the long-range transfer of the magnetic field from the ferromagnet to the superconductor. Contrary to the previously investigated inverse proximity effect resulting from the spin polarization of superconducting surface layer, we found a very generic orbital mechanism of the magnetic moment transfer from a ferromagnet to a superconductor which is unavoidable in S/F hybrids. It is related with the fact that the common superconducting wave function in S and F (near the interface) does not permit to exclude the vector-potential of the magnetization by gauge transformation. From the experimental point of view, this phenomenon reminds the Aharonov-Bohm effect since the current inside the attached superconductor is induced by the ferromagnetic layer which cannot create the magnetic field in the outside in the absence of such superconducting environment. At the same time, the true physical key point is that the wave function penetrating the ferromagnet is responsible for this effect. Let us stress that the characteristic length of the above proposed inverse electrodynamic effect is of the order of the London penetration depth.
