Efficiency of diode effect in asymmetric inline long Josephson junctions

Abstract

An effective superconducting diode—that is an element whose critical current depends upon the polarity—is achieved with a special configuration of a long Josephson junction and a control line. The proposed geometry is simple, based on the well-established asymmetric inline long Josephson junction, and can be realized using traditional superconductors without the need of magnetic materials. The performance of the diode, as measured by the efficiency, only depends on the normalized length and the control current intensity. At the optimal working point, the efficiency reaches about 76% and could be further improved at the expenses of the circuit simplicity. Finally, when a sinusoidal current is applied to the device, calculations with realistic fabrication parameters show the rectification of a sinusoidal current with a frequency in the MHz region.