Nonreciprocal current induced by dissipation in time-reversal symmetric systems

Abstract

We study nonreciprocal current response in noncentrosymmetric crystals under time-reversal symmetry. We reveal that the nonreciprocal current appears in a dissipative system through interband processes. We derive a formula for the nonreciprocal current using the Green's function technique. The nonreciprocal current of the present mechanism turns out to be of $O(1/τ)$ ($τ$: the lifetime of Bloch electrons) and arises from the shift of the electron wave packet during the interband processes which has a geometric origin. We present a numerical simulation of the nonreciprocal current in the one-dimensional Rice-Mele model and give its order estimation for nonmagnetic polar semiconductors.