Tunable diode effect in a superconducting tunnel junction with biharmonic drive

Abstract

A Josephson diode is a superconducting circuit element that enables non-reciprocal transport, allowing a dissipationless supercurrent to preferentially flow in a single direction. Existing methods for achieving the required symmetry breaking mostly rely on specifically-designed materials or carefully-engineered circuits composed of multiple Josephson junctions. Here, we demonstrate that applying a biharmonic drive to a conventional superconducting tunnel-junction induces a diode effect through harmonic mixing processes that shift the supercurrent region. We show that, in a conventional tunnel junction, unity efficiency is achievable while maintaining a large supercurrent. Moreover, the relative phase between the two driving tones determines the directionality of the diode, which can be tuned in situ.