Front Cover (Phys. Status Solidi A 8/2010)

The Editor's Choice article by Schaarschuch et al. (pp. 1785–1791 in this issue) centers around hybrid structures based on superconducting Nb and highly coercive ferromagnetic SmCo5 films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition. Such structures are interesting from the point of interplay between ferromagnetic and superconductor phases in close vicinity and from the point of growth behaviour for thin film heterostructures. Thus, by varying the thickness of a Cr spacer layer between superconductor and ferromagnet, the actual stray field strength on the superconductor can be controlled. Thin film architectures of both SmCo5 on Nb and the reversed system were examined by transmission electron microscopy and X‐ray diffraction with regard to their microstructure and epitaxial relationship, respectively. The cover image shows the cross‐sectional HRTEM image (left) and the colour coded EFTEM image (right) of a Nb/Cr/SmCo5 layer system with a nominal 5 nm Cr spacer layer between superconductor and ferromagnet.