Enhancement of the superconducting transition temperature in Nb/permalloy bilayers by controlling the domain state of the ferromagnet

In (S/F) hybrids the suppression of superconductivity by the exchange field h(ex) of the ferromagnet can be partially lifted when different directions of h(ex) are sampled simultaneously by the Cooper pair. In F/S/F trilayers where the magnetization directions of the F layers can be controlled separately, this leads to the so-called spin switch. Here we show that domain walls in a single F layer yield a similar effect. We study the transport properties of Ni(0.80)Fe(0.20)/Nb bilayers structured in strips of different sizes. For large samples a clear enhancement of superconductivity takes place in the resistive transition, in the very narrow field range (order of 0.5 mT) where the magnetization of the Py layer switches and many domains are present. This effect is absent in microstructured samples.