Abstract
The discovery of the superconducting diode effect (SDE) is recognised as a step forward in the development of superconducting electronics. Despite the diversity in the hosting materials and device designs, SDE is usually operated in a single mode which is enabled by either out-of-plane or in-plane magnetic field/magnetization. In this work, we report the realization of a dual-mode SDE in 2H-NbS2/2H-NbSe2 heterostructures where both the out-of-plane magnetic field B⊥ and in-plane magnetic field B∣∣ can independently generate and manipulate SDE. The two modes share similar diode efficiency but exhibit two orders difference in the operational field and have rather different temperature dependence. The dual-mode SDE is most likely a result of symmetry breaking along multiple orientations. In order to showcase the potential of the dual-mode SDE in realizing advanced superconducting functionality, we propose to use B⊥-induced SDE to implement fast polarity-switching functionality and B∣∣-induced SDE to realize high-fidelity functionality.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Professor Xin Liu for fruitful discussions. We acknowledge the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12204184, 12204451, and 12074134).
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C.Y. conceived and designed the experiment. H.G. fabricated the samples using protocol developed by C.Z., C.Y., and H.G. conducted experiments. C.Y. analyzed and interpreted the data with input of J.H., Z.Z., and Y.S. performed the theoretical calculation under the instruction of J.H., Q.C., X.Z., C.Z., and B.G. assisted in the experiment setup. C.Z. grew 2H-NbS2 bulk crystals. C.Y., S.W. proposed the two-functionality device scheme. C.Y. wrote the manuscript with input from J.H., S.W. and other authors. C.Y., J.H., and S.W. supervised the project. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the manuscript.
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Guan, H., Yan, C., Zhang, Z. et al. Dual-mode superconducting diode effect enabled by in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic field. Commun Phys (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-026-02598-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-026-02598-4
