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Mazzola F, Brzezicki W, Mercaldo MT, Guarino A, Bigi C, Miwa JA, De Fazio D, Crepaldi A, Fujii J, Rossi G, Orgiani P, Chaluvadi SK, Chalil SP, Panaccione G, Jana A, Polewczyk V, Vobornik I, Kim C, Miletto-Granozio F, Fittipaldi R, Ortix C, Cuoco M, Vecchione A. Signatures of a surface spin-orbital chiral metal. Nature 2024; 626:752-758. [PMID: 38326617 PMCID: PMC10881390 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07033-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2024] [Indexed: 02/09/2024]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Mazzola
- Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy.
- Istituto Officina dei Materiali, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Trieste, Italy.
| | - Wojciech Brzezicki
- Institute of Theoretical Physics, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
- International Centre for Interfacing Magnetism and Superconductivity with Topological Matter, Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | | | - Anita Guarino
- Istituto SPIN, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Fisciano, Italy
| | | | - Jill A Miwa
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Domenico De Fazio
- Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy
| | | | - Jun Fujii
- Istituto Officina dei Materiali, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Trieste, Italy
| | - Giorgio Rossi
- Istituto Officina dei Materiali, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Trieste, Italy
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Pasquale Orgiani
- Istituto Officina dei Materiali, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Trieste, Italy
| | | | | | - Giancarlo Panaccione
- Istituto Officina dei Materiali, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Trieste, Italy
| | - Anupam Jana
- Istituto Officina dei Materiali, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Trieste, Italy
| | - Vincent Polewczyk
- Istituto Officina dei Materiali, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Trieste, Italy
| | - Ivana Vobornik
- Istituto Officina dei Materiali, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Trieste, Italy
| | - Changyoung Kim
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
| | | | | | - Carmine Ortix
- Dipartimento di Fisica "E. R. Caianiello", Università di Salerno, Fisciano, Italy
| | - Mario Cuoco
- Istituto SPIN, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Fisciano, Italy.
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