Magnetic-field-induced polarity oscillation of superconducting diode effect

Abstract

Abstract Recently, an ultimate diode effect, a superconducting diode where an electric current shows the superconducting state in one direction and the normal state in the other direction, has been discovered in a noncentrosymmetric Nb/V/Ta superlattice. Here, we report that the polarity of the superconducting diode shows a sign reversal as a magnetic field is increased. Such a nonlinear behavior of the diode effect is beyond the phenomenology based on the Ginzburg–Landau theory. Based on a recent microscopic study, we propose the crossover and phase transitions of the finite-momentum pairing states as a possible origin of the sign reversals.