Surface supercurrent diode effect

Abstract

We propose a new type of supercurrent diode effect on the surface of a superconductor with surface states under in-plane magnetic fields. Surface supercurrent diode effect can lead to a perfect supercurrent diode in a considerably wide range of fields. For comparison, the conventional supercurrent diode effect due to the spin-orbit coupling in a two-dimensional superconductor cannot be perfect in usual cases. Candidates such as the (001) surface of iron-based superconductors BaFe${}_{2-x}$Co${}_x$As${}_2$ are discussed. Calculations are performed under the Ginzburg-Landau formalism.

Maintext 5.5 pages, 2 figures + Appendix 3.5 pages, 1 figure + 2 page references