Andreev Transport through a Magnetic Molecule Weakly Coupled to Ferromagnetic Leads

Abstract

The Andreev transport through a single molecular magnet coupled to two external ferromagnetic leads and one superconducting electrode is studied theoretically by means of the real-time diagrammatic technique. The calculations are performed by including the sequential tunneling processes between the molecule and ferromagnetic leads, while the coupling to superconductor can be arbitrary. We analyze the dependence of the Andreev current and tunnel magnetoresistance on various intrinsic parameters of the molecule. The superconducting proximity effect results in the formation of molecular Andreev bound states. We show that the transport behavior depends greatly on the type of internal exchange interaction of the molecule, which can lead to corresponding sign changes of the tunnel magnetoresistance of the device.