Superconducting diodes, characterized by unidirectional flow of supercurrents, are promising components for low-power quantum circuits. In this work, we demonstrate a field-controlled superconducting rectifier in a van der Waals heterostructure comprising an Ising superconductor $\mathrm{Nb}\mathrm{Se}$${}_2$ and an antiferromagnetic insulator $\mathrm{Mn}\mathrm{PS}$${}_3$. Our devices display key features of a superconducting-vortex-diode effect, including a characteristic M-shaped dependence of the critical current $I_{\mathrm{c}}$ on out-of-plane magnetic fields $B_{\mathrm{z}}$, and an antisymmetric diode efficiency $\eta$ with respect to $B_{\mathrm{z}}$. The second-harmonic magnetotransport measurements confirm that the observed nonreciprocity originates from the strongly asymmetric vortex dynamics, which are significantly enhanced compared to pristine few-layer $\mathrm{Nb}\mathrm{Se}$${}_2$. We attribute the enhancement to an inversion symmetry breaking induced by the spatially distributed superconducting domains due to the inhomogeneous magnetic proximity effect. Our findings bring insights for developing superconducting-vortex diodes that do not rely on artificial edge or surface disorder to achieve asymmetric barriers for vortex motion.

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• Critical current
• Proximity effect
• Vortices in superconductors
• 2-dimensional systems
• Diodes
• Heterostructures
• Superconducting devices
• van der Waals systems