Parity protected superconducting diode effect in topological Josephson junctions

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Legg, Henry F., Laubscher, Katharina, Loss, Daniel, Klinovaja, Jelena
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
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author Legg, Henry F.
Laubscher, Katharina
Loss, Daniel
Klinovaja, Jelena
author_facet Legg, Henry F.
Laubscher, Katharina
Loss, Daniel
Klinovaja, Jelena
contents In bulk superconductors or Josephson junctions formed in materials with spin-orbit interaction, the critical current can depend on the direction of current flow and applied magnetic field, an effect known as the superconducting (SC) diode effect. Here, we consider the SC diode effect in Josephson junctions in nanowire devices. We find that the $4π$-periodic contribution of Majorana bound states (MBSs) to the current phase relation (CPR) of single junctions results in a significant enhancement of the SC diode effect when the device enters the topological phase. Crucially, this enhancement of the SC diode effect is independent of the parity of the junction and therefore protected from parity altering events, such as quasiparticle poisoning, which have hampered efforts to directly observe the $4π$-periodic CPR of MBSs. We show that this effect can be generalized to SQUIDs and that, in such devices, the parity-protected SC diode effect can provide a highly controllable probe of the topology in a Josephson junction.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2301_13740
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Parity protected superconducting diode effect in topological Josephson junctions
Legg, Henry F.
Laubscher, Katharina
Loss, Daniel
Klinovaja, Jelena
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Superconductivity
In bulk superconductors or Josephson junctions formed in materials with spin-orbit interaction, the critical current can depend on the direction of current flow and applied magnetic field, an effect known as the superconducting (SC) diode effect. Here, we consider the SC diode effect in Josephson junctions in nanowire devices. We find that the $4π$-periodic contribution of Majorana bound states (MBSs) to the current phase relation (CPR) of single junctions results in a significant enhancement of the SC diode effect when the device enters the topological phase. Crucially, this enhancement of the SC diode effect is independent of the parity of the junction and therefore protected from parity altering events, such as quasiparticle poisoning, which have hampered efforts to directly observe the $4π$-periodic CPR of MBSs. We show that this effect can be generalized to SQUIDs and that, in such devices, the parity-protected SC diode effect can provide a highly controllable probe of the topology in a Josephson junction.
title Parity protected superconducting diode effect in topological Josephson junctions
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Superconductivity
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.13740