We report that spin supercurrents in magnetic superconductors and superconductor/ferromagnetic insulator bilayers can induce the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction which strength is proportional to the superconducting order parameter amplitude. This effect leads to the existence of inhomogeneous parity-breaking ground states combining the chiral magnetic helix and the pair density wave orders. The formation of such states takes place via the penetration of chiral domain walls at the threshold temperature below the superconducting transition. We find regimes with both the single and the re-entrant transitions into the inhomogeneous states with decreasing temperature. The predicted hybrid chiral states can be found in the existing structures with realistic parameters and materials combinations.
Enhancement of Josephson Supercurrent in a $π$-Junction state by Chiral Antiferromagnetism
Hefei National Laboratory（合肥国家实验室）；Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ultraintense Laser and Advanced Material Technology, Center for Intense Laser Application Technology, and College of Engineering Physics, Shenzhen Technology University（深圳技术大学超快激光与先进材料技术重点实验室、强激光应用技术中心及工程物理学院）；Institute for Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, University of Würzburg（维尔茨堡大学理论物理与天体物理研究所）；Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat（维尔茨堡-德累斯顿卓越集群ct.qmat）；School of Emerging Technology, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学新兴技术学院）
We study $d$-wave superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene and reveal phenomena that arise due to the moiré superlattice. In the $d$-wave pairing, the relative motion (RM) of two electrons in a Cooper pair can have either $d+id$ or $d-id$ symmetry with opposite angular momenta. Due to the enlarged moiré superlattice, the center-of-mass motion (COMM) can also carry a finite angular momentum while preserving the moiré periodicity. By matching the total angular momentum, which has contributions from both the RM and the COMM, Cooper pairs with $d+id$ and $d-id$ RMs are intrinsically coupled i…
We study a two-terminal graphene Josephson junction with contacts shaped to form a narrow constriction, less than 100nm in length. The contacts are made from type II superconducting contacts and able to withstand magnetic fields high enough to reach the quantum Hall (QH) regime in graphene. In this regime, the device conductance is determined by edge states, plus the contribution from the constricted region. In particular, the constriction area can support supercurrents up to fields of ~2.5T. Moreover, enhanced conductance is observed through a wide range of magnetic fields and gate voltages. …
Supercurrents in Josephson junctions with chiral molecular potentials
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem（耶路撒冷希伯来大学）；Universitá degli Studi di Padova（帕多瓦大学）；National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), Padova Section（意大利国家核物理研究所帕多瓦分部）；Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)（奥地利科学与技术研究所）
Polar chiral active matter as a motile, disordered Josephson array: Information supercurrents and Goldstone spin waves
The European Space Agency Centre for Earth Observation（欧洲空间局地球观测中心）；Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Saskatchewan（萨斯喀彻温大学物理与工程物理系）
The magnetoelectric effect (or Edelstein effect) in noncentrosymmetric superconductors states that a supercurrent can induce spin magnetization. This is an intriguing phenomenon which has potential applications in superconducting spintronic devices. However, the original Edelstein effect only applies to superconductors with polar point group symmetry. In recent years, many new noncentrosymmetric superconductors have been discovered, such as superconductors with chiral lattice symmetry and superconducting transition metal dichalcogenides with various lattice structures. In this Rapid Communicat…
A Kapitza Pendulum Route to Supercurrent Tunnel Diodes
Istituto di Struttura della Materia of the National Research Council（国家研究委员会材料结构研究所）；Institute for Theoretical Solid State Physics, IFW Dresden（德累斯顿IFW理论固体质物理研究所）；CNR-SPIN；Istituto Lombardo “Accademia di Scienze e Lettere”（伦巴第科学院与文学院）；NEST Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore（CNR纳米科学研究所NEST与比萨高等师范学院）；Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat（维尔茨堡-德累斯顿卓越集群ct.qmat）；Universitá di Salerno（萨莱诺大学）
Superconducting diode effect, in analogy to the nonreciprocal resistive charge transport in semiconducting diode, is a nonreciprocity of dissipationless supercurrent. Such an exotic phenomenon originates from intertwining between symmetry-constrained supercurrent transport and intrinsic quantum functionalities of helical/chiral superconductors. In this article, research progress of superconducting diode effect including fundamental concepts, material aspects, device prospects, and theoretical/experimental development is reviewed. First, fundamental mechanisms to cause superconducting diode eff…
We study the transport properties of a Josephson junction consisting of two identical $s$-wave superconductors separated by an even-layer ${\mathrm{MnBi}}_{2}{\mathrm{Te}}_{4}$ (MBT). Using recursive Green's function method, we calculate the supercurrent in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field and find that its quantum interference exhibits distinct patterns when the MBT is in different magnetic states. In the antiferromagnetic state, the MBT is an axion insulator supporting an extended "hinge" supercurrent, which leads to a sinusoidal interference pattern decaying with the field str…
We show that a supercurrent carried by spinless singlet Cooper pairs can induce a spin accumulation in the normal metal interlayer of a Josephson junction. This phenomenon occurs when a nonequilibrium spin-energy mode is excited in the normal metal, for instance by an applied temperature gradient between ferromagnetic electrodes. Without supercurrent, the spin accumulation vanishes in the Josephson junction. With supercurrent, a spatially antisymmetric spin accumulation is generated that can be measured by tunneling to a polarized detector electrode. We explain the physical origin of the induc…
It has been suggested by theoretical works that equal spin-triplet Cooper pairs can be generated in Josephson junctions containing both a ferromagnet and a source of spin-orbit coupling. Our recent experimental work suggested that spin-triplet Cooper pairs were not generated by a Pt spin-orbit coupling layer when the ferromagnetic weak link had entirely in-plane anisotropy (N. Satchell and N.O. Birge, Phys. Rev. B 97, 214509 (2018)). Here, we revisit the experiment using Pt again as a source for spin-orbit coupling and a [Co(0.4 nm)/Ni(0.4 nm)]$_{\times8}$/Co(0.4 nm) ferromagnetic weak link wi…
Long-range supercurrents induced by the interference effect of opposite-spin triplet state in clean superconductor-ferromagnet structures
在s波超导体-铁磁体-超导体（$SFS$）结构中，自旋单重态对产生的超电流只能传输磁相干长度量级的短距离。在正常金属相干长度的长度尺度上发生的长程超电流将由等自旋三重态对维持，这可以由系统中的磁不均匀性产生。在本文中，我们展示了一种不寻常的长程超电流，它可以发生在干净的$SF_1F_2S$结与非平行取向的磁矩。当两个铁磁层具有相同的长度和交换场值时，由$S/F_1$和$F_2/S$界面衍生的相反自旋三重态的干涉提供约瑟夫森电流增强背后的机制。这一发现可以为最近的实验提供自然的解释[Robinson et al.，物理修订信函104，207001（2010）]。
We explore the properties of chiral superfluid thin films coating a curved surface. Due to the vector nature of the order parameter, a geometric gauge field emerges and leads to a number of observable effects such as anomalous vortex-geometric interaction and curvature-induced mass/spin supercurrents. We apply our theory to several well-known phases of chiral superfluid $\rm ^3 He$ and derive experimentally observable signatures. We further discuss the cases of flexible geometries where a soft surface can adapt itself to compensate for the strain from the chiral superfluid. The proposed interp…
We present a study of strain modulation effects on electronic structures of a two-dimensional single-band chiral p-wave superconductor within the BCS mean-field scheme. We employ a lattice model and numerically solve the corresponding Bogolyubov-de Gennes equations. Assuming that strain modulation only modifies hopping amplitudes, we observe the emergence of local spontaneous supercurrents that are attributed to the non-trivial band topology of the system. We also report that strain modulation could induce the formation of topologically distinct domains within a single system, which is capture…
We predict that long-range triplet correlations (LRTC) in superconductor/ferromagnet (S/F) hybrids with extrinsic impurity spin-orbit coupling (SOC) can be generated and manipulated by supercurrent flowing in the superconducting leads along the S/F interfaces. The LRTC appear via two basic mechanisms. The essence of the first one is the generation of triplets by the superconducting spin Hall effect. These pairs are long-range in the ferromagnet under the appropriate mutual orientation of the condensate momentum and the ferromagnet magnetization. The second mechanism is based on the singlet-tri…
We utilize the Hubbard model to demonstrate that doping of the antiferromagnetic parent compounds of cuprate superconductors stabilizes a spin liquid state. Superconductivity in such a state emerges due to the spin-orbit coupling between charge current and superfluidity of spinon condensate, resulting in a chiral relation between the order parameter phase gradient and supercurrent. We propose simple experimental tests for the presented mechanism.
We investigate superconducting phase transition in superconductor(S)/ferromagnet(F) bilayer with Rasba spin-orbit interaction at S/F interface. This spin-orbit coupling produces spontaneous supercurrents flowing inside the atomic-thickness region near the interface, which are compensated by the screening Meissner currents [S. Mironov and A. Buzdin, Phys. Rev. Lett \textbf{118}, 077001 (2017)]. In the case of thin superconducting film the emergence of the spontaneous surface currents causes the increase of the superconducting critical temperature and we calculate the actual value of the critica…
Magnetic-Free Quantum Interference and Universal Josephson Diode Effect Driven by a Supercurrent Gauge Field
Tianjin University（天津大学）；State Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials for Intelligent Sensing, Ministry of Science and Technology & Key Laboratory of Organic Integrated Circuit, M（科学技术部先进智能材料国家重点实验室与有机集成电路重点实验室，M）
Superconducting spintronics is based on the creation of spin-triplet Cooper pairs in ferromagnet-superconductor (F-S) hybrid junctions. Previous proposals to manipulate spin-polarized supercurrents on-demand typically require the ability to carefully control magnetic materials. We, instead, propose a quantum heat engine that generates equal-spin Cooper pairs and drives supercurrents on-demand without manipulating magnetic components. We consider a S-F-S junction, connecting two leads at different temperatures, on top of the helical edge of a two-dimensional topological insulator. Heat and char…
We characterize topological features of Josephson junctions formed by coupled mesoscopic chiral $p$-wave superconducting islands. Through analytic and numerical studies of the low-lying BdG (Bogoliubov-de Gennes) spectrum, we identify localized MBS (Majorana bound states) nucleated in Josephson vortices by the application of a perpendicular magnetic field. Additionally, we demonstrate the existence of an extended MBS that is delocalized around the outer perimeter of the coupled islands, which has measurable consequences on the Josephson supercurrent and phase dynamics of the junction. In parti…
Optical control of chirality in chiral superconductors bears potential for future topological quantum computing applications. When a chiral domain is written and erased by a laser spot, the Majorana modes around the domain can be manipulated on ultrafast time scales. Here we study topological superconductors with two chiral order parameters coupled via light fields by a time-dependent real-space Ginzburg-Landau approach. Continuous optical driving, or the application of supercurrent, hybridizes the two chiral order parameters, allowing one to induce and control the superconducting state beyond…
Supercurrent effect in a charge density wave intertwined superconductor
School of Physics and Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center, Huazhong University of Science and Technology（华中科技大学物理学院、武汉国家强磁场中心）；Department of Physics, Zhejiang University（浙江大学物理系）；Hefei National Laboratory（合肥国家实验室）；Shanghai Research Center for Quantum Sciences（上海量子科学研究中心）；Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology（南方科技大学物理系）；Quantum Science Center of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Guangdong)（粤港澳大湾区量子科学中心（广东））
Chiral superconductors, a unique class of unconventional superconductors in which the complex superconducting order parameter winds clockwise or counter-clockwise in the momentum space, represent a topologically non-trivial system with direct implications for topological quantum computing. Intrinsic chiral superconductors are extremely rare, with only a few arguable examples including heavy fermion metals (UTe$_2$, UPt$_3$) and perovskite superconductor Sr$_2$RuO$_4$. Chiral molecules with neither mirror nor inversion symmetry have been widely investigated, in which the spin degeneracy may be …
We analyze theoretically the influence of domain walls (DWs) on the DC Josephson current in magnetic superconducting S$_{m}$/Fl/F/Fl/S$_{m}$ junctions. The Josephson junction consists of two "magnetic" superconductors S$_{m}$ (superconducting film covered by a thin ferromagnetic layer), spin filters Fl and a ferromagnetic layer F with or without DW (DWs). The spin filters Fl allow electrons to pass with one specific spin orientation, such that the Josephson coupling is governed by a fully polarized long-range triplet component. In the absence of DW(s), the Josephson and spin currents are nonze…
