Thermo- and magnetoelectric effects in superconducting nanostructures with spin-dependent fields

Abstract

Spin-dependent fields acting on superconductivity lead to intriguing phenomena. Under equilibrium conditions these phenomena are attributed to the singlet-triplet conversion of the superconducting condensate. In this talk I first discuss the effect of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and exchange fields on the properties of hybrid superconducting structures. I distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic SOC and predict non-dissipative Spin-Hall, Anomalous-Hall, Edelstein and Spin-Galvanic effects in analogy to normal systems with different types of SOC. These predictions open new opportunities for the development of low-dissipation magneto-electronics. In the second part of the talk, I will focus on charge and heat currents in superconducting structures with ferromagnetic insulators (FI). The spin-splitting of the BCS density of the states induced in the superconductor leads to striking phenomena which I will illustrate by briefly discussing few examples: (i) a huge thermoelectric effect in a N-FI-S structure, (ii) the occurrence of a thermophase in S-FI-S structures, (iii) the possibility of using FI-S in high sensitive detectors and thermometers[6], and (iv) a heat valve based on a ferromagnetic Josephson junction.