Proximity effect between superconductors and ferromagnets : from thin films to nanostructures

Experimental investigations of superconductor/ferromagnet (S/F) interfaces which probe the penetration of the superconducting pairing amplitude into the ferromagnet are reviewed. The microscopic basis for this proximity effect is the process of Andreev reflection which can be used to extract the current spin-polarization in F from current-voltage characteristics. Initial studies focused on S/F layers and multilayers, while more recent experiments investigated nanostructured point contacts in local and nonlocal configurations. (c) 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.