Spin transport in thin film heterostructures

Traditionally, superconductivity and long-range ferromagnetic order are considered to be competing states of matter. The fabrication of thin film heterostructures, however, opens up the possibility to explore fascinating phenomena that emerge when these two states meet at a superconductor-ferromagnetic interface. These include the creation of long-lived super-spin-currents that may hold the key to efficient spintronic devices, i.e. solid-state devices that exploit both electronic charge and spin.
The project will investigate the fabrication and testing of thin film heterostructures for spintronic devices, in particular superconductor/ferromagnet heterostructures, to explore the role of magnetic texture in influencing both the superconducting state and the formation of long-range super-spin-currents. The project will further seek to understand spin sinking in such states of matter, expanding our understanding of spin transport from conventional metallic and semiconducting materials. The student will become adept in a range of materials deposition and characterisation techniques, including central facility based measurements, such as low-energy muon spin spectroscopy. In this way, we will exploit muons as a local, depth-dependent magnetic probe to explore the properties arising within different regions of the fabricated heterostructures.