Signatures of a surface spin-orbital chiral metal

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mazzola, Federico; Brzezicki, Wojciech; Mercaldo, Maria Teresa; Guarino, Anita; Bigi, Chiara; Miwa, Jill A.; De Fazio, Domenico; Crepaldi, Alberto; Fujii, Jun; Rossi, Giorgio; Orgiani, Pasquale; Chaluvadi, Sandeep Kumar; Chalil, Shyni Punathum; Panaccione, Giancarlo; Jana, Anupam; Polewczyk, Vincent; Vobornik, Ivana; Kim, Changyoung; Miletto-Granozio, Fabio; Fittipaldi, Rosalba; Ortix, Carmine; Cuoco, Mario; Vecchione, Antonio
• 署名单位: Universita Ca Foscari Venezia; Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR); Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM-CNR); Jagiellonian University; Polish Academy of Sciences; Institute of Physics - Polish Academy of Sciences; University of Salerno; Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR); SOLEIL Synchrotron; Aarhus University; Polytechnic University of Milan; University of Milan; Seoul National University (SNU); Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR)
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-6990
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07033-8
• 发表日期: 2024-02-22
• 关键词: magnetism

摘要

The relation between crystal symmetries, electron correlations and electronic structure steers the formation of a large array of unconventional phases of matter, including magneto-electric loop currents and chiral magnetism1-6. The detection of such hidden orders is an important goal in condensed-matter physics. However, until now, non-standard forms of magnetism with chiral electronic ordering have been difficult to detect experimentally7. Here we develop a theory for symmetry-broken chiral ground states and propose a methodology based on circularly polarized, spin-selective, angular-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy to study them. We use the archetypal quantum material Sr2RuO4 and reveal spectroscopic signatures that, despite being subtle, can be reconciled with the formation of spin-orbital chiral currents at the surface of the material8-10. As we shed light on these chiral regimes, our findings pave the way for a deeper understanding of ordering phenomena and unconventional magnetism. A spin-orbital- and angular-momentum-sensitive methodology used to study Sr2RuO4 reveals subtle spectroscopic signatures that are consistent with the formation of spin-orbital chiral currents at the surface of the material.