Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 228, 741–747 (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2019-800198-2

Regular Article

Proposal for a NbPy-based superconducting spin-valve

¹ CNR-SPIN, c/o Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy
² Dipartimento di Fisica “E.R. Caianiello”, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy
³ Grup de Magnetisme, Departament de Física Fonamental, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, c. Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
⁴ Institut de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (IN²UB), Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

^a e-mail: carla.cirillo@spin.cnr.it

Received: 15 November 2018
Received in final form: 18 January 2019
Published online: 3 July 2019

Abstract

Superconducting critical temperature, T_c , in proximity coupled Nb/Py/Nb trilayers with Py thickness d_Py = 20–432 nm is investigated as a function of the magnetic history of the samples. An enhancement of T_c is observed when an ordered pattern of magnetic stripe domains is induced in the Py layer, namely for d_Py > 300 nm. This result is interpreted as a manifestation of the domain-wall superconductivity effect. The possibility to exploit these results for the design of a NbPy-based superconducting spin-valve is discussed.