In general, conventional superconductivity should not occur in a ferromagnet, though it has been seen in iron under pressure. Moreover, theory predicts that the current is always carried by pairs of electrons in a spin singlet state, so conventional superconductivity decays very rapidly when in contact with a ferromagnet, which normally prohibits the existence of singlet pairs. It has been predicted that this rapid spatial decay would not occur if spin triplet superconductivity could be induced in the ferromagnet. Here we report a Josephson supercurrent through the strong ferromagnet CrO2, from which we infer that it is a spin triplet supercurrent. Our experimental set-up is different from those envisaged in the earlier predictions, but we conclude that the underlying physical explanation for our result is a conversion from spin singlet pairs to spin triplets at the interface. The supercurrent can be switched with the direction of the magnetization, analogous to spin valve transistors, and therefore could enable magnetization-controlled Josephson junctions.

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The role of grain boundaries in the magnetoresistance ͑MR͒ properties of the manganites has been investigated by comparing the properties of epitaxial and polycrystalline films of La 0.67 D 0.33 MnO 3Ϫ␦ (DϭCa, Sr, or vacancies͒. While the MR in the epitaxial films is strongly peaked near the ferromagnetic transition temperature and is very small at low temperatures, the polycrystalline films show large MR over a wide temperature range down to 5 K. The results are explained in terms of switching of magnetic domains in the grains and disorder-induced canting of Mn spins in the grain-boundary region. ͓S0163-1829͑96͒51746-7͔