Phase jumps in Josephson junctions with time-dependent spin-orbit coupling

Planar Josephson junctions (JJs), based on common superconductors and III-V semiconductors, are sought for Majorana states and fault-tolerant quantum computing. However, with gate-tunable spin-orbit coupling (SOC), we show that the range of potential applications of such JJs becomes much broader. The time-dependent SOC offers unexplored mechanisms for switching JJs, accompanied by the 2 pi-phase jumps and the voltage pulses corresponding to the single-flux-quantum transitions, key to high-speed and low-power superconducting electronics. In a constant applied magnetic field, with Rashba and Dresselhaus SOC, anharmonic current-phase relations, calculated microscopically in these JJs, yield a nonreciprocal transport and superconducting diode effect. Together with the time-dependent SOC, this allows us to identify a switching mechanism at no applied current bias, which supports fractional-flux-quantum superconducting circuits and neuromorphic computing.