Ferromagnet–superconductor nanocontacts grown by focused electron/ion beam techniques for current-in-plane Andreev Reflection measurements

Superconductor-ferromagnetic in-plane nanocontacts have been created with focused-electron/ion-beam-induced deposition techniques for studies of Andreev Reflection. The final resistance of the nanocontact is tuned during the growth by in situ resistance measurements. The results show that Co nanodeposits grown with focused electron beam have large spin polarization (∼35%), making this nanomaterial of great potential for use in Spin Electronics applications. The experiments have also allowed the determination of the superconducting gap of the W-based nanodeposits grown with focused ion beam.