Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 096001 (2023)
Tunable Josephson Diode Effect on the Surface of Topological Insulators
Bo Lu1, Satoshi Ikegaya2,3, Pablo Burset4, Yukio Tanaka2,5, and Naoto Nagaosa6
1 Center for Joint Quantum Studies, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials Physics and Preparing Technology, Department of Physics, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300354, China
2 Department of Applied Physics, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
3 Institute for Advanced Research, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
4 Department of Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC) and Instituto Nicolás Cabrera, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
5 Research Center for Crystalline Materials Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
6 Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), RIKEN, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
Abstract
The Josephson rectification effect, where the resistance is finite in one direction while zero in the other, has been recently realized experimentally. The resulting Josephson diode has many potential applications on superconducting devices, including quantum computers. Here, we theoretically show that a superconductor-normal metal-superconductor Josephson junction diode on the two-dimensional surface of a topological insulator has large tunability. The magnitude and sign of the diode quality factor strongly depend on the external magnetic field, gate voltage, and the length of the junction. Such rich properties stem from the interplay between different current-phase relations for the multiple transverse transport channels, and can be used for designing realistic superconducting diode devices.
