2024/05/08 by Filippo Gaggioli, Yasen Hou, Gaggioli, Filippo +5 · 1 citation
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Magnetic Properties of Alloys #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2405.05306
openalex publication_date 2024/05/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Nonreciprocal current responses arise in a broad range of systems, from magnons and phonons to supercurrents, due to an interplay between spatial and temporal symmetry breakings. These find applications in devices, such as circulators and rectifiers, as well as in probing the interactions and states that underlie the nonreciprocity. An established symmetry argument anticipates emergence of nonreciprocal currents along a direction perpendicular to the applied magnetic field that breaks the time-reversal symmetry. Here, motivated by recent experiments, we examine the emergence of nonreciprocity in vortex-limited superconducting critical currents along an applied magnetic field. Employing London's equations for describing the Meissner response of a superconducting film, we find that an additional symmetry breaking due to a preferred vortex axis enables nonreciprocal critical currents along the applied magnetic field, consistent with the so far unexplained experimental observation. Building on our concrete theoretical model for supercurrents, we discuss a possible generalization of the prevailing symmetry consideration to encompass nonreciprocal currents along the time-reversal symmetry breaking direction.