Fabrication and physical properties of Pb/Cu multilayered superconducting nanowires

Using nanoporous media as templates for electrodeposition, we have fabricated multilayered Pb/Cu nanowires 50 nm in diameter and 20 μm long with Cu layer thicknesses as low as 10 nm. This was achieved by using a single-bath technique and a precise selection of the copper deposition potential to limit the redissolution of lead when the potential is raised to electrodeposit the more noble metal. Such superconductor/normal multilayered nanowires show interesting magnetoresistance properties at a low magnetic field that may be related to the proximity effect, which can therefore be investigated in a quasi-one-dimensional geometry