Proximity-induced equilibrium supercurrent and perfect superconducting diode effect due to band asymmetry
Abstract
We theoretically investigate the consequences of proximity-induced conventional superconductivity in metals that break time-reversal and inversion symmetries through their energy dispersion. We discover behaviors impossible in an isolated superconductor such as an equilibrium supercurrent that apparently violates a no-go theorem and, at suitable topological defects, non-conservation of electric charge reminiscent of the chiral anomaly. The equilibrium supercurrent is expected to be trainable by a helical electromagnetic field in the normal state. Remarkably, if the band asymmetry exceeds the critical current of the parent superconductor in appropriate units, we predict a perfect superconducting diode effect with diode coefficient unity. We propose toroidal metals such as UNiB and metals with directional scalar spin chiral order as potential platforms.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2210.09346,
title = {Proximity-induced equilibrium supercurrent and perfect superconducting diode effect due to band asymmetry},
author = {Pavan Hosur and Daniel Palacios},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.09346},
year = {2023}
}
Comments
7+2 pages, 3 figures. Added result on perfect superconducting diode effect without fine-tuning