Eur. Phys. J. B 32, 163-176 (2003)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2003-00085-7

Spin polarized current in the ground state of superconductor-ferromagnet-insulator trilayers

H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndal Ave., Bristol BS8 1TL, UK

Corresponding author: ^a m.a.krawiec@bristol.ac.uk

Received: 23 September 2002
Revised: 13 December 2002
Published online: 1 April 2003

Abstract

We study the ground state properties of a superconductor-ferromagnet-insulator trilayer on the basis of a Hubbard Model featuring exchange splitting in the ferromagnet and electron-electron attraction in the superconductor. We solve the spin-polarized Hartree-Fock-Gorkov equations together with the Maxwell's equation (Ampere's law) fully self-consistently with respect to the order parameter and the current. For certain values of the exchange splitting we find that a spontaneous spin polarized current is generated in the ground state and is intimately related to Andreev bound states at the Fermi level. Moreover, the polarization of the current strongly depends on the band filling.