Charge and spin transport in mesoscopic superconductors

Abstract

Nonequilibrium charge transport in superconductors has been investigated intensely in the 1970s and 80s, mostly in the vicinity of the critical temperature. Much less attention has been focussed on low temperatures, and the role of the quasiparticle spin. We report here on nonlocal transport in superconductor hybrid structures at very low temperatures. By comparing the nonlocal conductance obtained using ferromagnetic and normal-metal detectors, we discriminate charge and spin degrees of freedom. We observe spin injection and long-range transport of pure, chargeless spin currents in the regime of large Zeeman splitting. We elucidate charge and spin tranport by comparison to theoretical models. The observed long-range chargeless spin transport opens a new path to manipulate and utilize the quasiparticle spin in superconductor nanostructures.