Polarity-Tunable Time-Reversal Symmetric Superconducting Diode Effects in Gate-Defined Homojunctions

Author: Tian, Mingliang

Affiliation: High magnet field laboratory, CAS

Type: Contributed Talk

Session: Nonreciprocity, high fields, and superconducting diode effects

Date and Time: 24.07.2026, 10:25 - 10:45

Symmetry breaking underlies various non-reciprocal transport phenomena. A well-known example is the semiconductor diode, a cornerstone of modern electronics. Its superconducting counterpart—the superconducting diode effect (SDE)—has recently attracted intense interest due to its potential in ultra-low-power superconducting circuits. While most SDEs reported to date involve either explicit or spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry (TRS), a comprehensive theoretical framework remains elusive. Moreover, a general mechanism enabling TRS-preserving SDEs with minimal dependence on material or device architecture has yet to be established. Here, we report polarity-tunable SDEs without breaking TRS, realized in superconducting n-n, 𝑝-n and 𝑝 -𝑝 homojunctions defined via local protonic gate in multilayer NbSe2. The local gates induce partial proton intercalation, generating a built-in proton concentration gradient across the transition zone between the gated and ungated regions—closely resembling the depletion layer in conventional semiconductor diodes. We find that the observed SDE arises from electric-field-driven variation of the proton concentration gradient in the transition region, which asymmetrically modulates the critical current: suppressing it in one direction and enhancing it in the other. This local-gate-driven, TRS-preserving mechanism is independent of intrinsic band structure asymmetry or engineered Josephson junctions, offering a general and scalable strategy for realizing non-reciprocal superconducting transport. Our findings establish a material-agnostic platform for SDEs, broadly applicable across two-dimensional (2D) superconductors.