ИСТИНА

A proximity of a superconductor (S) and a ferromagnet (F) leads to the modification of both superconducting and magnetic properties of the whole S/F system [1-3]. The study of these phenomena is of interest for our understanding of the physics of strongly correlated electron systems, and also of particular interest for creating a new generation of spintronic devices. An effective experimental method for the studying the magnetic proximity effects (i.e. changes in the magnetic state of the S/F system) is the Polarized Neutron Reflectometry (PNR) [4]. PNR measures the nuclear and the magnetic depth-profiles, the latter via the interaction of neutron spins with the magnetic induction in the system. Advantages of the neutrons for such studies are the very low absorption in the layers of the required thickness for superconductivity, possibility to measure non-collinear magnetic structures, wide range of accessible temperatures and magnetic fields etc. This talk consists of the short introduction to the PNR method and examples of the experimental studies of different S/F systems carried out mainly on the MPI neutron reflectometer NREX [5-8].