oscillationsas a function of the

Gritical-current
exchangefieldandthicknessof the ferromagnetic
metal(F) in an S-F Josephsoniunction
andS. V. Panyukov
A. L Buzdin,L. N. Bulaevskil,
of theUSSR
of Sciences
Institute,Academy
Physics
P. N. Lebedeu
(Submitted19December1981)
Pis'maZh. Eksp.Teor.Fiz. 35, No. 4,147-148(20February1982)
The Josephsoncurrent in an,S-.F-Sjunction is calculatedfor a short weak link.
The current amplitudedependsin an oscillatorymanneron the exchangefreld of
the pure ferromagneticmetal. When certain conditions are satisfiedin a
superconductingring with an ^s-r-.s junction, the energy minimum of the
current and magneticflux.
systemcorrespondsto the statewith spontaneous
PACSnumbers:74.50.+ r,74.44.ik

of the current
junctionsthe oscillatorydependence
Josephson
In standard,S-1/,S
phases
of the elecof the interferenceof the
on the magneticfield is a consequence
tronsof a Cooperpair,which aredeterminedby the vectorpotential. Weshallshow
metal-superferromagnetic
that this interferenceappearsin a superconductor-pure
of the electronsin tlte Cooperpair are
conductorjunction, but in this casethe phases
junctions
metal. The,S-F-.S
field of the ferromagnetic
determinedby the exchange
fieldsin pureferromagteticmetals.
exchange
canthereforebe usedto investigate
Weshallexaminean S-F-Sjunction with the geometrystrownin Fig. l, which
I of the ferro'
that the thickness
to the ODSEEmodel.l Weassume
corresponds
superconducting
the
with
small
compared
are
dimension
magnetandits transverse
correlationlengtho andwith the electronmeanfreepathlengthl, i.e.,L 11d
interactionparameter
(!o (/. Wealsoassume
that the effectiveelectron-phonon
the system,we
describe
To
ferromagnet.
zerc
in
the
of the BCSmodelis equalto
pairing
df
eleqtrons
singlet
equationswith
usethe Eulenberger
,
(t+in *

I
i

a \
u, L^) ff rt= a{x)s7),ff + s' : t,

-,,L*)
( + in -

(l)

r,',= t*(x)sl),a=zrr( . +),

where the x axis is chosenas shownin Fig. l. Insidethe superconductorsI and 3

the Weissexchangefield /r = 0 and the order parameterA(x) in regions I and 3 is
equal to lalexp(xigl2), where g is the phasedifference at the junction. Inside the
ferromagneticmetal we find A(x) = g. We shallexaminea one'domainsample,i.e',
andh))vp ll
the field h is constantin region2. We alsoassumethat ft )A,
for simplicity,
assume,
we
electrons,
which
of
the
whereup is the Fermi velocity
h) vp
condition
The
metal.
ferromagtetic
is the samein the superconductorsand
of
derivation
In
the
impurities.
by
/ rnakesit possibleto ignore electronscattering
for
the
elecHamiltonian
the
in
fact
that
of
the
Eqs.(l) in region2 we take account
178

0021-3640182104178-03$1.00

O 1982 American Institute of Physics

178

FIG. 1. Regions1 and 3 are superconductors,

2 is a normal ferromagneticmetal, and L andd
are the thicknessand transversedimensionof the
ferromagnetrespectively. The shadedareais an
insulator.

trons there is the exchangeinteraction hrl/*(r) o lQ),where 7 are the Pauli mat r i c e s , a n d 0 * a n d r y ' a r e e l e c t r o n o p e r a t oIrnst.h i s r e g i o n t h e g f u n c t i o n d e s c r i b e s
the electron motion with projection of the spin (-1r5)on the axis parallel to /t. The
influenceof the magneticfield on the electronmotion resultsin the replacementof
9 by the gradient-invariantphasedifference.
The solution of Eqs. (l) in region I and 3 has the form of an exponentialfuncIn region2 we find
tion with the exponents0, tSr/lZrcl, and S)= ,/e +F
^
f2( x) =Cse

-2

2(a+ih)xlv

1u+ih)x/v,
fi(x)

=Coe

(2)

whereC6 andCj are constants.Taking into accountthe boundednessof the functions/ and/+ at infinity and their continuity at the boundariesof regions| , 2 and
By usingit we can easilycalculatethe
2,3,we determinethe function g'(.,rt).
current1.(p) that flows through the contact:

n a a 2*

r,(va)=
*^r :=

dy I

r-,

L*-

A.*(& -yy2)

th

2T

qiy
+ sin-th
2

A cq,(,p+D.:2)

2T
(3)

wherea=2lhV, fvp, andR1,'is-the resistanceof the weak link in the normal state.
The familiar expressionfcn the Josephsoncurrent in a short, weak ,S-i/-Slink follows
from Eq. (3) for a = 0.1'2
The currentIs(p,a) oscillatesas a function of ,pand c. The Is(p,a) dependence
is simplifiednear 7", where
nLz
I " ("s' , a ) = s
kRNT

- dy
F ( a ) s i nq , F ( a ) : a 2 I i ; c o s y .
o /'

As a result of varyinga, the function F(o) oscillatesand passesthrough zero, and

F(o) = -rin ala for a )) l. The oscillations of the maximum critical current 1" as a
function of o are preservedin the region T 117";however, sincethe relativevariat i o n s o f t h e q u a n t i t y l " a r e s m a l l e r , i t d o e s n o t v a n i s hI n. t h e l i m i t i n g c a s e o f a d i r t y
the oscillationsvanishover the entire temperature
ferromagneticmetal hllvpll
region.
179

JETPLett,Vol.35,No.4,20 February1982

Buzdin et al.

179

h
FIG.2. Dependence
of themaximumJosephson
currenton the temperature
in anS-f'-Sjunction
f o r t h e p a r a m e t e r s , T "Kx,4@ = 1 0 K , h o x3 0 0 K , a n d u F - 2 Xl 0 t c m / s e c ( s h o w n s c h e m a t i cally).
The oscillations of the maximum current as a function of c can be detected experimentally from the temperature dependenceof 1", since the exchangefield in
the ferromagnet changeswith the temperature. We shall examine a ferromagnetic
with a RKKI interactionand a Curie point @. For this case,fts = 1/@ep,where ep
is the Fermi energyin the ferromagneticmetal, and fte is the exchangefield at Z=0.
SettingF - | eY,T"x4K,@< 10 K, andL x l0-3 cm, we find large,nonmono'
tonic variations of the current 1" by changingthe temperature by about 0.5 K. Figure 2 showssdrematically the I"(T) dependencefor the parametersT"N 4 K,
@ t l 0 K , h s x 3 0 0 K , a n d v p = 2 X l O 7c m / s e c .
We note that a closedsuperconductingring with an S-f'-.Sjunction inserted into
it has a spontaneouscurrent and magretic flux in the ground state if F(a) ( 0 and
the ring inductanceis sufficiently large.3
We wish to thank V. V. Schmidt for discussions,which stimulated the study of
the propertiesof the S-F-Sjunction. We alsowish to thank G. F. Zharkov, A. D.
Zukin,D. A. Kirzhnin, and D. E. Khmel'nitskii for a useful discussionof the work.

Usp.Fiz.Nauk127,185(1979).
1.K. K. Likharev,
Fiz.Nizk.Temp.3, 945(1977)[Sov.J' Low Temp'
2. I. O. KulikandA. N. Omel'yanchuk,
) 4 ,r 4 2( 1 9 18 ) 1 . ,
P h y s3. ,4 5 9( r 9 7 7 );l 4 , 2 9 6( 1 9 7 8 1
Pis'maZh: Eksp.Teor.Fiz.25,314(1977)
V. V. Kuzii andA. A. Sobyanin,
3. L. N. Bulaevskil,
(1987)1.
Lett.
25,290
[JETP
by EugeneR. Heath
Translated
l;ditedby S.J. Amoretty

180

JETPLett,Vol.35,No.4,20 February1982

Buzdin et al.

180