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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Tuning the Josephson diode response with an ac current

Rubén Seoane Souto1,2,3, Martin Leijnse2,3, Constantin Schrade3,4, Marco Valentini5, Georgios Katsaros5, and Jeroen Danon6

  • 1Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 3, 28049 Madrid, Spain
  • 2Division of Solid State Physics and NanoLund, Lund University, S-22100 Lund, Sweden
  • 3Center for Quantum Devices, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 4Hearne Institute of Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA
  • 5Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Am Campus 1, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria
  • 6Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway

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Phys. Rev. Research 6, L022002 – Published 3 April, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.L022002

Abstract

Josephson diodes are superconducting elements that show an asymmetry in the critical current depending on the direction of the current. Here, we theoretically explore how an alternating current bias can tune the response of such a diode. We show that for slow driving there is always a regime where the system can only carry zero-voltage dc current in one direction, thus effectively behaving as an ideal Josephson diode. Under fast driving, the diode efficiency is also tunable, although the ideal regime cannot be reached in this case. We also investigate the residual dissipation due to the time-dependent current bias and show that it remains small. All our conclusions are solely based on the critical current asymmetry of the junction, and are thus compatible with any Josephson diode.

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  81. See Supplemental Material at http://link.aps.org/supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.L022002 for the derivation of the expressions in the fast and slow driving limits, the model of the inductance diode, and results going from fast to slow driving frequencies.
  82. DOI:10.55776/F86.

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Phys. Rev. Research 6, L022002– Published 3 April, 2024
  • Received 11 January 2024
  • Revised 18 January 2024
  • Accepted 12 March 2024
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