Anwar MS, Nakamura T, Yonezawa S, Yakabe M, Ishiguro R, Takayanagi H, Maeno Y. Anomalous switching in Nb/Ru/Sr₂RuO₄ topological junctions by chiral domain wall motion.
Sci Rep 2013;
3:2480. [PMID:
23963428 PMCID:
PMC6505398 DOI:
10.1038/srep02480]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2013] [Accepted: 08/02/2013] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
A spontaneous symmetry breaking in a system often results in domain wall formation. The motion of such domain walls is utilized to realize novel devices like racetrack-memories, in which moving ferromagnetic domain walls store and carry information. Superconductors breaking time reversal symmetry can also form domains with degenerate chirality of their superconducting order parameter. Sr2RuO4 is the leading candidate of a chiral p-wave superconductor, expected to be accompanied by chiral domain structure. Here, we present that Nb/Ru/Sr2RuO4 topological superconducting-junctions, with which the phase winding of order parameter can be effectively probed by making use of real-space topology, exhibit unusual switching between higher and lower critical current states. This switching is well explained by chiral-domain-wall dynamics. The switching can be partly controlled by external parameters such as temperature, magnetic field and current. These results open up a possibility to utilize the superconducting chiral domain wall motion for future novel superconducting devices.
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