Superconducting molybdenum-rhenium electrodes for single-molecule transport studies

We demonstrate that electronic transport through single molecules or molecular ensembles, commonly based on gold (Au) electrodes, can be extended to superconducting electrodes by combining gold with molybdenum-rhenium (MoRe). This combination induces proximity-effect superconductivity in the gold to temperatures of at least 4.6K and magnetic fields of 6 T, improving on previously reported aluminum based superconducting nanojunctions. As a proof of concept, we show three-terminal superconductive transport measurements through an individual Fe-4 single-molecule magnet. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.