Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 222, 1241-1256 (2013)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2013-01918-8

Review

All-oxide superconductor/ferroic hybrids

¹ Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/Thales, 1 avenue A. Fresnel, 91767 Palaiseau, and Université Paris Sud, 91405 Orsay, France
² Ceramics Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

Received: 18 March 2013
Revised: 12 May 2013
Published online: 15 July 2013

Abstract

This short review focuses on interface interactions in hybrid heterostructures which combine high-temperature superconductors, ferromagnets and ferroelectrics. We specifically examine two different phenomena. One of them is electric-field effects at superconductor/ferroelectric interfaces, which allow a nonvolatile, reconfigurable nanoscale modulation of superconductivity. The second phenomenon is the proximity effect at superconductor/ferromagnet interfaces. We focus in particular on the penetration of superconducting correlations into half-metal ferromagnets. For both phenomena, an overview is given on materials' issues, fabrication techniques, physical mechanisms and related devices.