Interplay of magnetism and superconductivity at the nanometer scale: the case of complex oxide heterostructures

It is suggested that magnetism and superconductivity can coexist at the nanometer scale in heterostructures consisting of complex ferromagnetic and superconducting oxides. The geometry discussed is that of a trilayer where the superconductor is a copper oxide and is sandwiched by two layers of ferromagnets consisting of manganese oxides. The superconductor is assumed to be layered and have a d-wave order parameter. It is shown that the ground state of such nanometer scale heterostructures alternates between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic depending on the thickness of the superconductor. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.