Electric field-induced nonreciprocal spin current due to chiral phonons in chiral-structure superconductors

Abstract

The recent experiment [R. Nakajima, et al., Nature 613, 479 (2023)] has reported a pair of oppositely polarized spins under an alternating electric current in a superconductor with a chiral structure. However, these behaviors cannot be explained by the conventional Edelstein effect and require a new mechanism. In this Letter, we propose a mechanism of spin current generation under an external electric field due to chiral phonons in a chiral-structure superconductor based on the Bogoliubov de Gennes and the Boltzmann equations. In our mechanism, chiral phonons are induced by electric field due to inversion symmetry breaking and electron-phonon interaction. They work as an effective Zeeman field and hence spin-polarize Bogoliubov quasiparticles in the superconductor. As a result, the spin current carried by quasiparticles flows along the screw axis and shows a quadratic dependence on the electric field at the low-field range, leading to a nonreciprocal spin transport. The spin current also shows a nonmonotonic temperature dependence and has a maximum at around the superconducting transition temperature.