Head: Prof. (apl) Dr. Detlef Beckmann
In superconductor hybrid structures, we exploit the competition of superconductivity and different ground states such as normal metals and ferromagnets to investigate devices with potential applications in spintronics and quantum information processing. The Josephson-contact based structures we investigate are fabricated by e-beam lithography and shadow evaporation in a UHV system. Thereby, contact distances of a few hundred nanometers are realized. We use aluminum, which is superconducting at temperatures below 1.2 K and has a large coherence length, and long spin life-time. The normal metal leads are typically made of non-magnetic copper or ferromagnetic iron. We investigate both local and nonlocal transport properties, and benefit from collaboration with our theory colleagues.
