ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Probing possible p-wave superconductivity in Bi/Ni bilayers

Abstract: Superconductivity and ferromagnetism are perhaps the best examples of how quantum mechanics can be employed to explain macroscopic phenomena. The two states, both containing coherent electrons, are traditionally considered antagonistic. Placing a ferromagnet in contact with a superconductor causes a suppression of the superconductivity. It is therefore a highly surprising result that placing very thin films of otherwise non-superconducting Bi next to ferromagnetic Ni, such that the two metals share an interface, causes the resulting heterostructure to superconduct with a critical temperature of about 4 K. It is possible that the superconducting mechanism responsible is the rare p-wave type. We plan to further investigate this highly unusual system using neutron reflectometry to extract the key length scales involved and probe the nature of the superconducting state.

Principal Investigator: Dr Nathan Satchell
Experimenter: Professor Xiaofeng Jin
Local Contact: Dr Nina-Juliane Steinke
Experimenter: Professor Alan Drew
Experimenter: Dr Chia-Ling Chien
Experimenter: Dr Jos Cooper
Experimenter: Professor Sean Langridge
Experimenter: Dr Christy Kinane

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1620297

ISIS Experiment Number: RB1620297

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Nathan Satchell et al; (2016): Probing possible p-wave superconductivity in Bi/Ni bilayers, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1620297

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.