THIN-FILM SUPERCONDUCTOR IN AN EXCHANGE FIELD

Using the technique of spin-polarized tunneling, we studied tunnel junctions with EuS/Al bilayer electrodes. We found a large effective internal field in the Al film, which gives rise to extra Zeeman splitting in the superconducting quasiparticle density of states and which is attributed to the exchange interaction between the Eu ions and the Al conduction electrons. This exchange field, acting only on the electron spins, is inversely proportional to the thickness of the Al, causes no observable orbital depairing in the Al, and leads to a first-order transition to the normal state.