4 research outputs found
Superconducting diode effect in quasi-one-dimensional systems
The recent observations of the superconducting diode effect pose the
challenge to fully understand the necessary ingredients for non-reciprocal
phenomena in superconductors. In this theoretical work, we focus on the
non-reciprocity of the critical current in a quasi-one-dimensional
superconductor. We define the critical current as the value of the supercurrent
at which the quasiparticle excitation gap closes (depairing). Once the critical
current is exceeded, the quasiparticles can exchange energy with the
superconducting condensate, giving rise to dissipation. Our minimal model can
be microscopically derived as a low-energy limit of a Rashba spin-orbit coupled
superconductor in a Zeeman field. Within the proposed model, we explore the
nature of the non-reciprocal effects of the critical current both analytically
and numerically. Our results quantify how system parameters such as spin-orbit
coupling and quantum confinement affect the strength of the superconducting
diode effect. Our theory provides a complementary description to
Ginzburg-Landau theories of the effect.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure