Authors: Jiadian He, Yifan Ding, Xiaohui Zeng, Yiwen Zhang, Yanjiang Wang, Peng Dong, Yueshen Wu, Kecheng Cao, Kejing Ran, Xiang Zhou, Jinghui Wang, Yulin Chen, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Shun‐Li Yu, Jian‐Xin Li, Jinsheng Wen, Jun Li
Published: 2025-05-02
Source: Full article
AbstractThe superconducting diode effect (SDE), a hallmark of nonreciprocal superconductivity, unveils a rich ore of intriguing physical properties and applications. SDE has been discovered in some unconventional superconductors, but remains underexplored in heterostructures. Here, a van der Waals heterostructure of magnetic Mott insulator α‐RuCl3 and superconductor NbSe2 is engineered to induce SDE via proximity‐driven superconducting correlations. Transport measurements reveal an induced superconducting gap (0.2 meV) in α‐RuCl3, which is significantly smaller than the intrinsic gap of NbSe2 (1.2 meV). Upon the application of a weak out‐of‐plane magnetic field below 70 mT, an asymmetry in the critical currents under positive and negative applied currents is observed. In particular, under a positive field of 3 mT, the negative critical current Ic − is 774 µA, whereas the positive critical current Ic + is 567 µA, resulting in a maximum superconducting diode efficiency Q of ≈15.4%. The field‐direction selectivity implicates Ising‐type spin‐orbit coupling as the symmetry‐breaking mechanism. This work establishes a platform for designing SDE in artificially stacked 2D materials, advancing prospects for superconducting spintronics.