IOP Publishing, Chinese Physics Letters, 1(26), p. 017502, 2009
DOI: 10.1088/0256-307x/26/1/017502
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We investigate the mutual interaction between superconductivity and ferromagnetism in a Nb/Ni81Fe19 multilayer by ac susceptibility measurements. Compared with a pure superconducting Nb film, the critical current density of the multilayer is apparently enhanced in a low magnetic field region but remains nearly the same in high magnetic fields, which indicates that a continuous ferromagnetic layer with in-plane magnetization can produce strong vortex pinning in a low field region. We interpret this unusual vortex-pinning phenomenon as a consequence of dynamic spin–vortex interaction which induces a spin rotation following vortex movement. In addition, we propose that this dynamic interaction could be used for spin manipulation via a superconductor.