Spin-dependent Proximity Effects in d-wave Superconductor/Half-metal Heterostructures

Abstract

We report on mutual proximity effects in d-wave superconductor/half-metal heterostructures which correspond to systems composed of high-Tc cuprates and manganite materials. In our study, proximity effects are induced by the interplay of two separate interface effects: spin-mixing (or rotation) surface scattering and spin-flip scattering. The surface spin-mixing scattering introduces spin-triplet pairing correlations in superconducting side; as a result, Andreev bound states are formed at energies within the superconducting gap. The spin-flip scattering introduces not only long range equal-spin pairing amplitudes in the half-metal, but also an exotic magnetic proximity effect extending into the superconductor.