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arXiv:2608.27213

Occupation-Driven Josephson Diode in a Symmetric Junction

Jianxiong Zhai, Zelei Zhang, Jiawei Yan

Published Aug 27, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

We propose a Josephson diode mechanism in which nonreciprocity arises not from a conventional asymmetric Andreev spectrum but from nonequilibrium occupation of the current-carrying states engineered by attached reservoirs. We realize this mechanism in a double-quantum-dot junction, where a phase-textured nonlocal reservoir acts as a quantum Zeno selector: rapid dissipation freezes out the bright state directly coupled to the jump operator $L$, while preserving an orthogonal dark Andreev channel whose supercurrent remains comparable to that of the lossless junction. In the infinite-gap limit, the steady-state current factorizes as $I_{\rm ss}=I_A P_γ$, so that even when the Andreev current $I_A$ is strictly reciprocal, the phase asymmetry of $P_γ$ alone can produce a Josephson diode effect through reservoir engineering. We further show that local Coulomb repulsion can drive the system toward a nearly ideal diode regime via a dark-pair resonance. Using Keldysh-Lindblad calculations, we demonstrate that our results remain robust for realistic junctions with a finite superconducting gap and dissipation.

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We propose a Josephson diode mechanism in which nonreciprocity arises not from a conventional asymmetric Andreev spectrum but from nonequilibrium occupation of the current-carrying states engineered by attached reservoirs. We realize this mechanism in a double-quantum-dot junction, where a phase-textured nonlocal reservoir acts as a quantum Zeno selector: rapid dissipation freezes out the bright state directly coupled to the jump operator LLL, while preserving an orthogonal dark Andreev channel whose supercurrent remains comparable to that of the lossless junction. In the infinite-gap limit, the steady-state current factorizes as Iss=IAPγI_{\rm ss}=I_A P_γIss​=IA​Pγ​, so that even when the Andreev current IAI_AIA​ is strictly reciprocal, the phase asymmetry of PγP_γPγ​ alone can produce a Josephson diode effect through reservoir engineering. We further show that local Coulomb repulsion can drive the system toward a nearly ideal diode regime via a dark-pair resonance. Using Keldysh-Lindblad calculations, we demonstrate that our results remain robust for realistic junctions with a finite superconducting gap and dissipation.
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Josephson junctions based on quantum dots offer a convenient tunability by means of local gates. Here we analyze a Josephson junction based on a serial double quantum dot in which the two dots are individually gated by phase-shifted microwave tones of equal frequency. We calculate the time-averaged current across the junction and determine how the phase shift between the drives modifies the current-phase relation of the junction. Breaking particle-hole symmetry on the dots is found to give rise to a finite average anomalous Josephson current with phase bias between the superconductors fixed to zero. This microwave gated weak link thus realizes a tunable ``Floquet ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}_{0}$ junction'' with maximum critical current achieved for driving frequencies slightly off resonance with the subgap excitation energy. We provide numerical results supported by an analytical analysis for infinite superconducting gap and weak interdot coupling. We identify an interaction-driven $0\text{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\pi}$ transition of anomalous Josephson current as a function of driving phase difference. Finally, we show that this junction can be tuned so as to provide for complete rectification of the time-averaged Josephson current-phase relation.