Strongly spin-polarized current generated in Zeeman-split unconventional superconductors

Abstract

We consider a thin-film normal metal/superconductor junction in the presence of an externally applied in-plane magnetic field for several symmetries of the superconducting order parameter. For p-wave superconductors, a strongly spin-polarized current emerges due to an interplay between the nodal structure of the superconducting order parameter, the existence or non-existence of zero-energy surface states, and the Zeeman-splitting of the bands which form superconductivity. Thus, the polarization depends strongly on the orbital symmetry of the superconducting state. Our findings suggest a mechanism for obtaining fully spin-polarized currents crucially involving zero-energy surface states, not present in s-wave superconductors.

5 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B