• Accepted Paper

Effect of superconducting fluctuations on nonreciprocal dichroism and gyrotropy

Alex Levchenko

Phys. Rev. B - Accepted 28 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/ffpb-133j

Abstract

We study the spatially dispersive conductivity of a two-dimensional noncentrosymmetric superconductor, demonstrating that it acquires a nonreciprocal, odd-in-wavevector component from fluctuation-induced Cooper pairs above the critical temperature Tc. Utilizing time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory generalized to include particle-hole asymmetry and the cubic Lifshitz invariant of trigonal superconductors, we compute the Aslamazov-Larkin contribution to the gyrotropic conductivity in closed form, including its complete frequency dependence. The dissipative part describes nonreciprocal directional dichroism: it is odd in frequency and displays a nonmonotonic dependence, peaking at frequencies comparable to the decay rate of fluctuating Cooper pairs. Its Kramers-Kronig dual component describes gyrotropic birefringence, which remains finite in the static limit and is strongly enhanced as the temperature approaches Tc, as long as the probe frequency stays below the pair decay rate. Both effects require simultaneously broken inversion and time-reversal symmetries, are dependent on particle-hole asymmetry in close analogy to the fluctuation Hall effect, and trace to the same asymmetric Cooper-pair dispersion responsible for the superconducting diode effect and the giant magnetochiral anisotropy observed near Tc. In this regime this critical enhancement dominates over the smooth normal-state gyrotropy, which we evaluate for the same band model as a baseline. Finally, we frame our analysis within the context of gated transition metal dichalcogenides like MoS2, discussing the implications for probing superconducting dynamics through nitrogen-vacancy-center quantum noise spectroscopy.

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