Symmetry-resolved superconducting diode response
Abstract
The superconducting diode effect manifests as nonreciprocal properties of critical currents, yet a systematic tensorial framework for its symmetry-governed responses remains lacking. We develop such a framework by relating the angular harmonics of critical currents to the magnetic field. Crystalline symmetries constrain the dipolar response to be purely antisymmetric (Hall-like) in Rashba superconductors with C3v, C4v, or C6v symmetry, whereas they require a diagonal, traceless tensor in Dresselhaus superconductors with D2d symmetry. For systems with fourfold symmetry, the octupole response appears at linear order, whose response tensors take symmetric off-diagonal and identity forms for C4v and D2d symmetries, respectively. Furthermore, nematicity activates otherwise forbidden tensor components, providing a sensitive probe of rotational symmetry breaking in superconductors. At cubic order in the magnetic field, the nonlinear response tensors likewise exhibit distinct symmetry-dependent patterns. Our framework establishes a symmetry-resolved characterization of the superconducting diode effect and provides a route to probing the underlying electronic structure and symmetry-breaking orders.
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BibTeX
@misc{qin2026symmetryresolved,
title = {{Symmetry-resolved superconducting diode response}},
author = {Qiong Qin and Jie Wu and Congjun Wu},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2605.04928},
eprint = {2605.04928},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.04928},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Symmetry-resolved superconducting diode response
AU - Qiong Qin
AU - Jie Wu
AU - Congjun Wu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/27
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2605.04928
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.04928
AB - The superconducting diode effect manifests as nonreciprocal properties of critical currents, yet a systematic tensorial framework for its symmetry-governed responses remains lacking. We develop such a framework by relating the angular harmonics of critical currents to the magnetic field. Crystalline symmetries constrain the dipolar response to be purely antisymmetric (Hall-like) in Rashba superconductors with C_3v, C_4v, or C_6v symmetry, whereas they require a diagonal, traceless tensor in Dresselhaus superconductors with D_2d symmetry. For systems with fourfold symmetry, the octupole response appears at linear order, whose response tensors take symmetric off-diagonal and identity forms for C_4v and D_2d symmetries, respectively. Furthermore, nematicity activates otherwise forbidden tensor components, providing a sensitive probe of rotational symmetry breaking in superconductors. At cubic order in the magnetic field, the nonlinear response tensors likewise exhibit distinct symmetry-dependent patterns. Our framework establishes a symmetry-resolved characterization of the superconducting diode effect and provides a route to probing the underlying electronic structure and symmetry-breaking orders.
ER -