Diode is one of basic electronic components. It has a nonreciprocal current response, associated with a broken space/time reversal symmetry. Here we demonstrate prototypes of superconducting diodes operational at zero magnetic field. They are based on conventional niobium planar Josephson junctions, in which space/time symmetry is broken by a combination of self-field effect from nonuniform bias and stray fields from a trapped Abrikosov vortex. We demonstrate that nonreciprocity of critical current in such diodes can reach an order of magnitude and rectification efficiency can exceed 70%. Furthermore, we can easily change the diode polarity and switch nonreciprocity on/off by changing bias configuration and by trapping/removing a vortex. This facilitates memory functionality. We argue that such diode-with-memory can be used for a future generation of in-memory superconducting computers.
@article{arxiv.2205.12196,
title = {Demonstration of a superconducting diode-with-memory, operational at zero magnetic field with switchable nonreciprocity},
author = {T. Golod and V. M. Krasnov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2205.12196},
year = {2022}
}