We report nonreciprocal dissipation-less transport in single ballistic InSb nanoflag Josephson junctions. Applying an in-plane magnetic field, we observe an inequality in supercurrent for the two opposite current propagation directions. Thus, these devices can work as Josephson diodes, with dissipation-less current flowing in only one direction. For small fields, the supercurrent asymmetry increases linearly with external field, and then it saturates as the Zeeman energy becomes relevant, before it finally decreases to zero at higher fields. The effect is maximum when the in-plane field is perpendicular to the current vector, which identifies Rashba spin-orbit coupling as the main symmetry-breaking mechanism. While a variation in carrier concentration in these high-quality InSb nanoflags does not significantly influence the supercurrent asymmetry, it is instead strongly suppressed by an increase in temperature. Our experimental findings are consistent with a model for ballistic short junctions and show that the diode effect is intrinsic to this material.

Josephson Diode Effect in High-Mobility InSb Nanoflags

Salimian, S.;Carrega M.;Strambini, E.;Giazotto, F.;Zannier, V.;Sorba, L.;Heun, S.
2022

Abstract

We report nonreciprocal dissipation-less transport in single ballistic InSb nanoflag Josephson junctions. Applying an in-plane magnetic field, we observe an inequality in supercurrent for the two opposite current propagation directions. Thus, these devices can work as Josephson diodes, with dissipation-less current flowing in only one direction. For small fields, the supercurrent asymmetry increases linearly with external field, and then it saturates as the Zeeman energy becomes relevant, before it finally decreases to zero at higher fields. The effect is maximum when the in-plane field is perpendicular to the current vector, which identifies Rashba spin-orbit coupling as the main symmetry-breaking mechanism. While a variation in carrier concentration in these high-quality InSb nanoflags does not significantly influence the supercurrent asymmetry, it is instead strongly suppressed by an increase in temperature. Our experimental findings are consistent with a model for ballistic short junctions and show that the diode effect is intrinsic to this material.
2022
Istituto Superconduttori, materiali innovativi e dispositivi - SPIN
Istituto Nanoscienze - NANO
Josephson junctions, Supercurrent Diode Effect, Spin-orbit coupling, InSb Nb
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
NL22(2022)8502.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Versione Editoriale (PDF)
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 7.75 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
7.75 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14243/412242
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 47
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact