Work supported in part by US Department of Energy contract DE-AC02-76SF00515. Inverse proximity effect in superconductor-ferromagnet bilayer structures

Measurements of the polar Kerr effect using a zero-area-loop Sagnac magnetometer on Pb/Ni and Al/(Co-Pd) proximity-effect bilayers show unambiguous evidence for the “inverse proximity effect,” in which the ferromagnet (F) induces a finite magnetization in the superconducting (S) layer. To avoid probing the magnetic effects in the ferromagnet, the superconducting layer was prepared much thicker than the light’s optical penetration depth. The sign and size of the effect, as well as its temperature dependence agree with recent predictions by Bergeret et al.[1].