Proximity effect in superconductor/ferromagnet nanostructures

We discuss the peculiarities of the proximity effect in superconductor/ferromagnet (S/F) hybrid structures. In S/F bilayers with a thin F layer, a very striking non-monotonous dependence of the critical temperature on the interface transparency is predicted. It is also demonstrated that the spin-flip scattering strongly affects the properties of S/F/S junctions. Finally, we study the “fine structure” of the 0-π transition.