Does a ferromagnet with spin-dependent masses produce a spin-filtering effect in a ferromagnetic/insulator/superconductor junction?

We analyze charge transport through a ballistic ferromagnet/insulator/superconductor junction by means of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. We take into account the possibility that ferromagnetism in the first electrode may be driven by a mass renormalization of oppositely polarized carriers, i.e. by a spin bandwidth asymmetry, rather than by a rigid splitting of up- and down-spin electron bands as in a standard Stoner ferromagnet. By evaluating the averaged charge conductance for both an s- and a d(x2-y2)-wave order parameter for the S side, we show that the mass mismatch in the ferromagnetic electrode may mimic a spin active barrier. Indeed, in the s-wave case we show that under suitable conditions the spin-dependent conductance of minority carriers below the energy gap Delta(0) can be larger than for majority carriers, and lower above Delta(0). On the other hand, for a d(x2-y2)-wave superconductor similar spin-dependent effects give rise to an asymmetric peak splitting in the conductance. These results suggest that the junction may work as a spin-filtering device.