Ai Linfeng, Zhang Enze, Yang Jinshan, Xie Xiaoyi, Yang Yunkun, Jia Zehao, Zhang Yuda, Liu Shanshan, Li Zihan, Leng Pengliang, Cao Xiangyu, Sun Xingdan, Zhang Tongyao, Kou Xufeng, Han Zheng, Xiu Faxian, Dong Shaoming
State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, 200433, Shanghai, China.
Shanghai Qi Zhi Institute, 41th Floor, AI Tower, No. 701 Yunjin Road, Xuhui District, 200232, Shanghai, China.
Nat Commun. 2021 Nov 12;12(1):6580. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26946-w.
Superconductor-ferromagnet interfaces in two-dimensional heterostructures present a unique opportunity to study the interplay between superconductivity and ferromagnetism. The realization of such nanoscale heterostructures in van der Waals (vdW) crystals remains largely unexplored due to the challenge of making atomically-sharp interfaces from their layered structures. Here, we build a vdW ferromagnetic Josephson junction (JJ) by inserting a few-layer ferromagnetic insulator CrGeTe into two layers of superconductor NbSe. The critical current and corresponding junction resistance exhibit a hysteretic and oscillatory behavior against in-plane magnetic fields, manifesting itself as a strong Josephson coupling state. Also, we observe a central minimum of critical current in some JJ devices as well as a nontrivial phase shift in SQUID structures, evidencing the coexistence of 0 and π phase in the junction region. Our study paves the way to exploring sensitive probes of weak magnetism and multifunctional building-blocks for phase-related superconducting circuits using vdW heterostructures.
二维异质结构中的超导-铁磁体界面为研究超导性与铁磁性之间的相互作用提供了独特的机会。由于从范德华(vdW)晶体的层状结构制造原子级尖锐界面存在挑战,此类纳米级异质结构在vdW晶体中的实现仍在很大程度上未被探索。在此,我们通过将几层铁磁绝缘体CrGeTe插入两层超导NbSe中来构建一个vdW铁磁约瑟夫森结(JJ)。临界电流和相应的结电阻相对于面内磁场呈现出滞后和振荡行为,表现为强约瑟夫森耦合状态。此外,我们在一些JJ器件中观察到临界电流的中心最小值以及超导量子干涉器件(SQUID)结构中的非平凡相移,证明结区域中0和π相的共存。我们的研究为探索使用vdW异质结构的弱磁敏感探针和用于与相位相关的超导电路的多功能构建模块铺平了道路。