Prediction of ferroelectric superconductors with reversible superconducting diode effect

Article

关键词: TRANSITION-TEMPERATURE;    BILAYER;    POINTS;   

DOI  :  10.1103/PhysRevB.106.L140505

来源: SCIE

【 摘 要 】

A noncentrosymmetric superconductor can have a superconducting diode effect, where the critical current in opposite directions is different when time-reversal symmetry is also broken. We theoretically propose that a ferroelectric superconductor with coexisting ferroelectricity and superconductivity can support a ferroelec-tric reversible superconducting diode effect. Through first-principles calculation, we predict that monolayer CuNb2Se4 (i.e., bilayer NbSe2 intercalated with Cu) is such a ferroelectric superconductor, where ferroelectricity controls the layer polarization as well as the sign of spin-orbit-coupling-induced spin splittings. Because the nonreciprocal effect of the critical current is proportional to the spin splittings, the superconducting diode effect is reversible upon electric switch of ferroelectricity. While we use CuNb2Se4 as a model system, the predicted effect can appear in a class of two-dimensional superconducting bilayers with ferroelectricity induced by interlayer sliding. Our work opens the door to studying the interplay between superconductivity and ferroelectricity in two-dimensional materials.

【 授权许可】

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