Abstract
We investigate the behavior of the critical temperature in superconductor/ferromagnet/superconductor (S/F/S) trilayers in the dirty limit as a function of the ferromagnetic layer thickness and the S/F interface transparency. We perform calculations using the general self-consistent multimode approach based on the Usadel equations in Matsubara Green's functions technique, and compare the results with the single-mode approximation, widely used in literature. Both methods produce similar results for sufficiently low interface transparency. For transparent interfaces, we obtain a qualitatively different behavior. Using the multimode approach, we observe multiple 0- transitions in critical temperature, which cannot be resolved by the single-mode approximation. We also calculate the critical S layer thickness at given when an S/F/S trilayer still has a nonzero critical temperature. Finally, we establish the limits of applicability of the single-mode approximation.
- Received 25 May 2019
- Revised 25 July 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.104502
©2019 American Physical Society