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Sign reversal of the Josephson inductance magnetochiral anisotropy and 0–π-like transitions in supercurrent diodes

Nature Nanotechnology volume 18, pages 1266–1272 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

The recent discovery of the intrinsic supercurrent diode effect, and its prompt observation in a rich variety of systems, has shown that non-reciprocal supercurrents naturally emerge when both space-inversion and time-inversion symmetries are broken. In Josephson junctions, non-reciprocal supercurrent can be conveniently described in terms of spin-split Andreev states. Here we demonstrate a sign reversal of the Josephson inductance magnetochiral anisotropy, a manifestation of the supercurrent diode effect. The asymmetry of the Josephson inductance as a function of the supercurrent allows us to probe the current–phase relation near equilibrium, and to probe jumps in the junction ground state. Using a minimal theoretical model, we can then link the sign reversal of the inductance magnetochiral anisotropy to the so-called 0−π-like transition, a predicted but still elusive feature of multichannel junctions. Our results demonstrate the potential of inductance measurements as sensitive probes of the fundamental properties of unconventional Josephson junctions.

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Fig. 1: Multichannel Rashba Josephson junctions: experiment and theory.
Fig. 2: Reversal of the inductance MCA at the 0–π-like transition.
Fig. 3: The d.c. SDE.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available at the online depository EPUB of the University of Regensburg, with the identifier https://doi.org/10.5283/epub.53466. Source data are provided with this paper.

Code availability

The computer codes that support the theoretical results, the plots within this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Work at Regensburg University was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) through project no. 314695032 (SFB 1277 (subprojects B05, B07 and B08)) and project no. 454646522, research grant ‘Spin and magnetic properties of superconducting tunnel junctions’ (A.C. and J.F.). D.K. acknowledges partial support from the project IM-2021-26 (SUPERSPIN) funded by the Slovak Academy of Sciences via the programme IMPULZ 2021.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: A. Costa, C. Baumgartner.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Theoretische Physik, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

    A. Costa, J. Fabian & D. Kochan

  2. Institut für Experimentelle und Angewandte Physik, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

    C. Baumgartner, S. Reinhardt, J. Berger, N. Paradiso & C. Strunk

  3. Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    S. Gronin, G. C. Gardner, T. Lindemann & M. J. Manfra

  4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    T. Lindemann & M. J. Manfra

  5. School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    M. J. Manfra

  6. Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    M. J. Manfra

  7. Institute of Physics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia

    D. Kochan

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Contributions

C.B. and J.B. fabricated the devices and performed the measurements. A.C. performed the numerical simulations. A.C., D.K. and J.F. formulated the theoretical model. S.R. developed and optimized the measurement method. T.L., S.G. and G.C.G. designed the heterostructure, conducted molecular-beam epitaxy growth and performed the initial characterization of the hybrid superconductor/semiconductor wafer. C.B. and N.P. analysed the data. N.P. and C.S. conceived the experiment. C.S. and M.J.M. supervised research activities at Regensburg and Purdue, respectively. N.P., A.C. and D.K. wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to discussions and to the refinement of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to N. Paradiso.

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Nature Nanotechnology thanks Mathias Scheurer, Elia Strambini and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Figs. 1–5 and Discussion.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Results of calculations based on our analytical model.

Source Data Fig. 2

Experimental data (Fig. 2a–c) and calculations (Fig. 2d,e).

Source Data Fig. 3

Experimental data (Fig. 3a,b) and calculations (Fig. 3c–e).

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Costa, A., Baumgartner, C., Reinhardt, S. et al. Sign reversal of the Josephson inductance magnetochiral anisotropy and 0–π-like transitions in supercurrent diodes. Nat. Nanotechnol. 18, 1266–1272 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-023-01451-x

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