Diodes are key elements for electronics, optics, and detection. The search for a material combination providing the best performances for the required application is continuously ongoing. Here, we present a superconducting spintronic tunnel diode based on the strong spin filtering and splitting generated by an EuS thin film between a superconducting Al and a normal metal Cu layer. The Cu/EuS/Al tunnel junction achieves a large rectification (up to ∼40\%) already for a small voltage bias (∼200μV) thanks to the small energy scale of the system: the Al superconducting gap. With the help of an analytical theoretical model we can link the maximum rectification to the spin polarization of the barrier and describe the quasi-ideal Schottky-diode behavior of the junction. This cryogenic spintronic rectifier is promising for the application in highly-sensitive radiation detection for which two different configurations are evaluated. In addition, the superconducting diode may pave the way for future low-dissipation and fast superconducting electronics.
@article{arxiv.2109.01061,
title = {Superconducting spintronic tunnel diode},
author = {E. Strambini and M. Spies and N. Ligato and S. Ilic and M. Rouco and C. G. Orellana and M. Ilyn and C. Rogero and F. S. Bergeret and J. S. Moodera and P. Virtanen and T. T. Heikkilä and F. Giazotto},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.01061},
year = {2023}
}