Crossed Andreev reflection-induced magnetoresistance

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that crossed Andreev reflection in ferromagnet-superconductor-ferromagnet trilayers can produce extremely large negative magnetoresistance, offering potential for advanced spintronic device applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism for large negative magnetoresistance in magnetic trilayers due to crossed Andreev reflection, with specific structure conditions identified.

Findings

Magnetoresistance can exceed -80% with suitable parameters.

Crossed Andreev reflection significantly influences magnetoresistance in these structures.

Results are relevant for designing spintronic devices using ferromagnet-superconductor structures.

Abstract

We show that very large negative magnetoresistance can be obtained in magnetic trilayers in a current-in-plane geometry owing to the existence of crossed Andreev reflection. This spin-valve consists of a thin superconducting film sandwiched between two ferromagnetic layers whose magnetization is allowed to be either parallelly or antiparallelly aligned. For a suitable choice of structure parameters and nearly fully spin-polarized ferromagnets the magnetoresistance can exceed -80%. Our results are relevant for the design and implementation of spintronic devices exploiting ferromagnet-superconductor structures.