Asymmetric Josephson effect in inversion symmetry breaking topological materials

Topological materials which possess topologically protected surface states have attracted much attention in recent years. In this work, we study the critical current of superconductor/inversion symmetry breaking topological material/superconductor junctions. We found surprisingly that, in topologica...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. B 2018-08, Vol.98 (7), p.075430, Article 075430
Main Authors: Chen, Chui-Zhen, He, James Jun, Ali, Mazhar N., Lee, Gil-Ho, Fong, Kin Chung, Law, K. T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asymmetry
Broken symmetry
Critical current (superconductivity)
Josephson effect
Metalloids
Superconductor junctions
Symmetry
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Summary:Topological materials which possess topologically protected surface states have attracted much attention in recent years. In this work, we study the critical current of superconductor/inversion symmetry breaking topological material/superconductor junctions. We found surprisingly that, in topological materials with broken inversion symmetry, the magnitude of the critical Josephson currents |Ic+(B)| at fixed magnetic field B is not the same for critical currents |Ic−(B)| flowing in the opposite direction. Moreover, the critical currents violate the |Ic±(B)|=|Ic±(−B)| relation and give rise to asymmetric Fraunhofer patterns. We call this phenomenon asymmetric Josephson effect (AJE). AJE can be used to detect inversion symmetry breaking in topological materials such as in quantum spin Hall systems and Weyl semimetals.
ISSN:2469-9950
2469-9969
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.98.075430