Superconducting Diode Effects: Mechanisms, Materials and Applications

TL;DR

Superconducting diode effects (SDEs) exhibit nonreciprocal current behavior in systems with broken symmetries, with recent progress in understanding their mechanisms, materials, and potential applications in detecting exotic superconducting states.

Contribution

This review summarizes recent experimental advances, mechanisms, and applications of SDEs, highlighting their role in exploring symmetry breaking in superconductors.

Findings

SDEs are linked to exotic superconducting states like FFLO and topological superconductivity.

Recent experiments have demonstrated SDEs in various materials.

Rectification efficiency of SDE devices has been characterized.

Abstract

Superconducting diode effects (SDEs) generally emerge in superconducting systems where both time-reversal and inversion symmetries are broken, showing nonreciprocal current characteristics: nondissipative in one direction and ohmic in the opposite. Since the discovery of the SDEs by Ando et al. in the noncentrosymmetric superconductor [Nb/V/Ta]n in 2020, notable progress has been achieved on both the theoretical and experimental fronts. It has been proposed that intrinsic SDEs are closely linked to various exotic superconducting states, such as the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state, topological superconductivity, and chiral superconductivity. Recently, SDEs have emerged as important experimental tools for detecting symmetry breaking in exotic superconducting states. This advancement not only enhances our understanding of the fundamental nature of SDEs but also opens new possibilities for their applications in superconducting physics and related fields. This review focuses on the recent experimental progress in the observation of the SDEs and discusses their primary mechanisms from the perspective of material properties and symmetry breaking. Finally, we summarize the observed rectification efficiency of SDE devices and discuss future research directions in this rapidly developing field.