Directionally controlled superconductivity in ferromagnet/superconductor/ ferromagnet trilayers with biaxial easy axes

Abstract

We report on the magnetic anisotropy controlled modulation of the superconductivity in La0.7 Ca0.3 MnO3/ YBa 2 Cu3O7-δ / La0.7 Ca 0.3 MnO3 ferromagnet/superconductor/ferromagnet hybrids with biaxial easy axes. The magnetoresistance (MR) is determined by the local misalignment of the magnetizations in the two layers and exhibits a positive MR plateau for antiparallel alignment along the easy axes and negative MR peaks at the coercive field near the hard axes. This evidences the importance of spin-dependent interfacial scattering effects (as opposed to stray fields) in the MR behavior of superconducting oxide inverse spin switches. © 2010 The American Physical Society.