Superconducting Diode Effect Due to Chiral Meissner Currents in a Hollow Superconducting Helix
The superconducting diode effect is a key nonreciprocal phenomenon with broad relevance for superconducting electronics. Using time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau simulations, we predict and quantify a superconducting diode effect arising solely from geometric chirality imposed on a conventional superconductor. The helical geometry and magnetic-field-induced screening currents produce inequivalent critical currents for opposite polarities. The diode efficiency reaches a maximum when one current direction first nucleates vortices, revealing a chirality-controlled crossover between screening- and vortex-dominated nonreciprocity. These results establish mesoscopic geometric chirality as a robust mechanism for supercurrent rectification in an achiral superconductor. They suggest an experimentally accessible route toward 3D superconducting diodes for multilevel integrated quantum circuits.
Authors
- Dirk Grundler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4966-9712)
- Axel J. M. Deenen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0862-5596)
Institutions
- Institute of Electrical Engineering (CN)
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nano Letters
- Published
- 2026-02-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c06341
- Primary Topic
- Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00