Nonreciprocal superconductivity.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39612323.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.adr4817 and PMC identifier 11639219.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
We introduce the notion of nonreciprocal superconductors where inversion and time-reversal symmetries are broken, giving rise to an asymmetric energy dispersion. We demonstrate that nonreciprocal superconductivity can be detected by Andreev reflection. In particular, a transparent junction between a normal metal and a nonreciprocal superconductor generally exhibits an asymmetric current-voltage characteristic, which serves as a defining feature of nonreciprocal superconductivity. Unlike the superconducting diode effects, our detection scheme has the advantage of avoiding large critical currents that turn the superconducting state to normal. Last, we discuss candidates for nonreciprocal superconductivity, including graphene, UTe<sub>2</sub>, as well as engineered platforms.