Nonreciprocal superconducting NbSe2 antenna

Enze Zhang,Shanshan Liu,Sarah J. Haigh,Hangwen Guo,Linfeng Ai,Minhao Zhao,Yunkun Yang,Xiang Dong,Faxian Xiu,Zehao Jia,Yi-Chao Zou,Naoto Nagaosa,Xinyue Peng,Zihan Li,Jian Shen,Yuda Zhang,Ce Huang,Pengliang Leng,Xian Xu

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19459-5

Abstract

The rise of two-dimensional (2D) crystalline superconductors has opened a new frontier of investigating unconventional quantum phenomena in low dimensions. However, despite the enormous advances achieved towards understanding the underlying physics, practical device applications like sensors and detectors using 2D superconductors are still lacking. Here, we demonstrate nonreciprocal antenna devices based on atomically thin NbSe2. Reversible nonreciprocal charge transport is unveiled in 2D NbSe2 through multi-reversal antisymmetric second harmonic magnetoresistance isotherms. Based on this nonreciprocity, our NbSe2 antenna devices exhibit a reversible nonreciprocal sensitivity to externally alternating current (AC) electromagnetic waves, which is attributed to the vortex flow in asymmetric pinning potentials driven by the AC driving force. More importantly, a successful control of the nonreciprocal sensitivity of the antenna devices has been achieved by applying electromagnetic waves with different frequencies and amplitudes. The device’s response increases with increasing electromagnetic wave amplitude and exhibits prominent broadband sensing from 5 to 900 MHz.

Highlights

The rise of two-dimensional (2D) crystalline superconductors has opened a new frontier of investigating unconventional quantum phenomena in low dimensions
The second harmonic magnetoresistance of few-layer NbSe2 exhibits multiple antisymmetric reversals when the temperature is below the superconducting transition temperature TC, manifesting itself as a feature of reversible nonreciprocal charge transport due to the broken inversion symmetry
We find that the response of the antenna increases monotonically with the increasing amplitude of the electromagnetic waves and that the devices show prominent broadband sensing from 5 to 900 MHz

Summary

Results

As is typical for systems with broken inversion symmetry, nonreciprocal charge transport, so-called magneto-chiral anisotropy, will appear when time-reversal symmetry is broken by an external magnetic field[24,33]. Under such circumstances, the electrical resistance of the device will depend on the current a

Vortex solid

Discussion

Methods