Reversible field-free superconducting diode effect controlled by an antiferromagnet

@misc{krizek2026reversible,
  title = {{Reversible field-free superconducting diode effect controlled by an antiferromagnet}},
  author = {Filip Krizek and Kamil Olejník and Tobias Edwinson and August Jacobi and Athira Suresh and Andrej Farkaš and Jan Kraus and Vít Novák and Christoph Müller and Vojtěch Pařízek and Niclas Heinsdorf and Peter Wadley and Oliver Amin and Kevin Edmonds and Tomas Jungwirth and Libor Šmejkal and Anna Birk Hellenes and Sumit Ghosh and Michal Mazur and Dominik Kriegner and Lucas Casparis and Saulius Vaitiekėnas},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.38003},
  eprint = {2609.38003},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.38003},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Reversible field-free superconducting diode effect controlled by an antiferromagnet
AU  - Filip Krizek
AU  - Kamil Olejník
AU  - Tobias Edwinson
AU  - August Jacobi
AU  - Athira Suresh
AU  - Andrej Farkaš
AU  - Jan Kraus
AU  - Vít Novák
AU  - Christoph Müller
AU  - Vojtěch Pařízek
AU  - Niclas Heinsdorf
AU  - Peter Wadley
AU  - Oliver Amin
AU  - Kevin Edmonds
AU  - Tomas Jungwirth
AU  - Libor Šmejkal
AU  - Anna Birk Hellenes
AU  - Sumit Ghosh
AU  - Michal Mazur
AU  - Dominik Kriegner
AU  - Lucas Casparis
AU  - Saulius Vaitiekėnas
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/29
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.38003
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.38003
AB  - The semiconductor diode, which allows current to flow preferentially in one direction, is a fundamental building block of numerous modern electronic circuits. Its superconducting analogue---the superconducting diode effect---enables directional dissipationless current flow and may provide similar functionality in future superconducting quantum circuits. Realization of such a nonreciprocal supercurrent requires broken time-reversal symmetry. At zero applied field, this has been typically associated either with intrinsic unconventional superconductivity or extrinsic spin-split electronic states induced by magnetic proximity. Here we demonstrate a field-free superconducting diode effect in conventional superconducting Al proximitized by collinear antiferromagnetic CuMnAs, whose electronic structure breaks time-reversal symmetry without generating spin splitting. By tuning the proximity effect through an insulating AlAs interlayer and correlating the reversal of the diode polarity with the reversal of the remanent Néel state, we establish that the antiferromagnet controls the superconducting diode effect. Our results show that neither spin-split bands nor net magnetization is required for a magnetically controlled field-free superconducting diode effect, extending superconducting nonreciprocity to a broader class of collinear compensated magnets.
ER  -