Rotational diode: Clockwise/counterclockwise asymmetry in conducting and mechanical properties of rotating (semi)conductors

TL;DR

This paper introduces a 'rotational diode' concept where certain materials exhibit asymmetric electrical and mechanical properties depending on rotation direction, tunable by magnetic fields, due to electron statistics in conductors.

Contribution

The study demonstrates a novel rotational diode effect in semiconductor-metal composites, revealing direction-dependent conductivity and inertia influenced by magnetic fields and electron statistics.

Findings

Electrical conduction is direction-dependent and tunable by magnetic fields.

Mechanical properties like moment of inertia differ with rotation direction.

The effects are rooted in Fermi-Dirac electron statistics.

Abstract

We argue that certain materials exhibit asymmetry of their mechanical and conducting properties with respect to clockwise/counterclockwise rotation. We show that a cylinder made of a suitably chosen semiconductor coated in a metallic film and placed in the magnetic-field background can serve as a "rotational diode" which conducts electricity only at a specific range of angular frequencies. The critical angular frequency and the direction of rotation can be tuned with the magnetic field's strength. Mechanically, the rotational diode possesses different moments of inertia when rotated in clockwise and counterclockwise directions. These effects emerge as a particularity of the Fermi-Dirac statistics of electrons in rotating conductors.