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DOE OSTI · 2931703

An antiferromagnetic diode effect in even-layered MnBi 2 Te 4

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Abstract

In a p–n junction, the separation of positive and negative charges leads to diode transport, in which charge flows in only one direction. Non-centrosymmetric polar conductors are intrinsic diodes that could be of use in the development of nonlinear applications. Such systems have recently been extended to non-centrosymmetric superconductors, and the superconducting diode effect has been observed. Here, in this paper, we report an antiferromagnetic diode effect in a centrosymmetric crystal without directional charge separation. We observed large second-harmonic transport in a nonlinear electronic device enabled by the compensated antiferromagnetic state of even-layered MnBi 2 Te 4 . We show that this antiferromagnetic diode effect can be used to create in-plane field-effect transistors and microwave-energy-harvesting devices. We also show that electrical sum-frequency generation can be used as a tool to detect nonlinear responses in quantum materials.

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Gao, Anyuan, Chen, Shao-Wen, Ghosh, Barun, Qiu, Jian-Xiang, Liu, Yu-Fei, Onishi, Yugo, Hu, Chaowei, Qian, Tiema, Bérubé, Damien, Dinh, Thao, Li, Houchen, Tzschaschel, Christian, Park, Seunghyun, Huang, Tianye, Lien, Shang-Wei, Sun, Zhe, Ho, Sheng-Chin, Singh, Bahadur, Watanabe, Kenji, Taniguchi, Takashi, Bell, David C., Bansil, Arun, Lin, Hsin, Chang, Tay-Rong, Yacoby, Amir, Ni, Ni, Fu, Liang, Ma, Qiong, Xu, Su-Yang. 2024-08-12. An antiferromagnetic diode effect in even-layered MnBi 2 Te 4. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-024-01219-8

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