Oscillatory Nernst effect in Pt|ferrite|cuprate-superconductor trilayer films

Abstract

Although magnetism and superconductivity hardly coexist in a single material, recent advances in nanotechnology and spintronics have brought to light their interplay in magnetotransport in thin-film heterostructures. Here, we found a periodic oscillation of Nernst voltage with respect to magnetic fields in Pt|LiFe ₅O ₈ (Pt|LFO) bilayers grown on a cuprate superconductor YBa ₂Cu ₃O _{7− x} (YBCO). At high temperatures above the superconducting transition temperature ( T _C ) of YBCO, spin Seebeck voltages originating in Pt|LFO layers are observed. As temperature decreases well below T _C , the spin Seebeck voltage is suppressed and unconventional periodic voltage oscillation as a function of magnetic fields appears; such an oscillation emerging along the Hall direction in the superconducting state has not been observed yet. Dynamics of superconducting vortices pinned by surface precipitates seems responsible for the oscillatory Nernst effect.