Diodes are key elements for electronics, optics, and detection. Their evolution towards low dissipation electronics has lead to the hybridization with superconductors (S) and the realization of non-reciprocal transport of both quasiparticles and Cooper pairs. That occurs when both spatial inversion and time-reversal symmetries are broken.
Here, we review both effects comparing their efficiencies and basic principles.
The quasi-particle diode[1] is a superconducting tunnel junction with zero conductance in only one direction. The direction-selective propagation of the charge has been obtained through the broken electron-hole symmetry induced by the spin selection of a ferromagnetic tunnel barrier made of a EuS thin film separating a superconducting Al and a normal metal Cu layer. It achieves a large rectification of up to ∼40%.
[1] Strambini, E., Spies, M. et al. Nat Commun 13, 2431 (2022)
