Spintronics response of YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ junctions with the metallic ferromagnet SrRuO₃

Magnetic properties of SFS and SF ramp-type junctions with YBa ₂Cu₃O_7-δ (YBCO) electrodes (S), and the itinerant ferromagnet SrRuO₃ (SRO - F), were investigated. We looked for a crossed Andreev reflection effect (CARE) in which an electron from one magnetic domain in F is Andreev reflected as a hole into an adjacent, oppositely polarized, domain while a pair is transmitted into S. CARE is possible in SRO since the width of its domain walls is of the order of the YBCO coherence length (2-3 nm). Our junctions behave as typical magnetic tunneling junctions, as the conductance spectra were always asymmetric, and a few showed bound state peaks at finite bias which shifted with field according to the classical Tedrow and Meservey theory. In many of our SFS junctions with a barrier thickness of 10-20 nm, a prominent zero bias conductance peak (ZBCP) has been observed. This peak was found to decrease linearly with magnetic field, as expected for Andreev and CARE scattering. In contrast, in SF junctions, the observed ZBCP was found to decrease versus field almost exponentially, in agreement with the Anderson-Appelbaum theory of scattering by magnetic states in F. Thus, transport in our SFS and SF junctions depends strongly on the size of the F layer. We also found that in both cases, the ZBCP height at zero field decreased with increasing magnetic order of the domains in F, in agreement with the CARE mechanism.