Subgap transport in ferromagnet-superconductor junctions due to magnon-assisted Andreev reflection

Abstract

We propose a new process of magnon-assisted Andreev reflection at a ferromagnetic metal - superconductor interface, which consists of the simultaneous injection of a Cooper pair from the superconductor and the emission of a magnon inside the ferromagnet. At low temperature this process represents an additional channel for sub-gap transport across an FS interface, which lifts restrictions on the current resulting from the necessity to match spin-polarized current in the ferromagnet with spin-less current in the superconductor. For a junction between a superconductor and a ferromagnet with an arbitrary degree of polarization, the inelastic magnon-assisted Andreev reflection process would manifest itself as a nonlinear addition to the $I(V)$ characteristics which is asymmetric with respect to the sign of the bias voltage and is related to the density of states of magnons in the ferromagnet. Expressions for the subgap $I(V)$ characteristics are given for arbitrary interfacial quality whilst the limiting cases of uniformly transparent and disordered interfaces are discussed in detail.

15 pages, 4 eps figures