Nonreciprocal current induced by dissipation in time-reversal symmetric systems

We study nonreciprocal current response in noncentrosymmetric crystals under time-reversal symmetry. We show that the nonreciprocal current appears in a dissipative system through interband processes. The nonreciprocal current is inversely proportional to the lifetime $\tau$ and has a close relationship to the geometric quantity called the shift vector. The current mechanism is suitable for minigap systems where the energy gap and relaxation strength are comparable. We present a numerical simulation of the nonreciprocal current in the one-dimensional Rice–Mele model.