Coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity in epitaxial GdN/W/NbN/W (100) and related NbN/W (100) multilayers

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The magnetic and superconducting properties of epitaxial, (100)-oriented GdN/W/NbN/W multilayers have been characterized. We find that the interfacial layer of W permits the GdN/NbN layers to be grown smoothly. We report large flux trapping effects in the magnetic hysteresis loops measured below the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of the multilayer, indicating the coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity down to layer thicknesses of 40 and 22 Å for the NbN and GdN, respectively. Nonmagnetic NbN/W multilayers were also studied; in these multilayers, Tc is enhanced considerably above that of a single NbN layer due to coupling of the superconducting layers across the W spacers. This behavior is fitted to a model which explicitly includes interlayer coupling.