Giant X-ray circular dichroism in a time-reversal invariant altermagnet

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Okamoto, Jun, Wang, Ru-Pan, Chu, Yen-Yi, Shiu, Hung-Wei, Singh, Amol, Huang, Hsiao-Yu, Mou, Chung-Yu, Teh, Sucitto, Jeng, Horng-Tay, Du, Kai, Xu, Xianghan, Cheong, Sang-Wook, Du, Chao-Hung, Chen, Chien-Te, Fujimori, Atsushi, Huang, Di-Jing
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Published: 2023
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author Okamoto, Jun
Wang, Ru-Pan
Chu, Yen-Yi
Shiu, Hung-Wei
Singh, Amol
Huang, Hsiao-Yu
Mou, Chung-Yu
Teh, Sucitto
Jeng, Horng-Tay
Du, Kai
Xu, Xianghan
Cheong, Sang-Wook
Du, Chao-Hung
Chen, Chien-Te
Fujimori, Atsushi
Huang, Di-Jing
author_facet Okamoto, Jun
Wang, Ru-Pan
Chu, Yen-Yi
Shiu, Hung-Wei
Singh, Amol
Huang, Hsiao-Yu
Mou, Chung-Yu
Teh, Sucitto
Jeng, Horng-Tay
Du, Kai
Xu, Xianghan
Cheong, Sang-Wook
Du, Chao-Hung
Chen, Chien-Te
Fujimori, Atsushi
Huang, Di-Jing
contents X-ray circular dichroism, arising from the contrast in X-ray absorption between opposite photon helicities, serves as a spectroscopic tool to measure the magnetization of ferromagnetic materials and identify the handedness of chiral crystals. Antiferromagnets with crystallographic chirality typically lack X-ray magnetic circular dichroism because of time-reversal symmetry, yet exhibit weak X-ray natural circular dichroism. Here, we report the observation of giant natural circular dichroism in the Ni $L_3$-edge X-ray absorption of Ni$_3$TeO$_6$, a polar and chiral antiferromagnet with effective time-reversal symmetry. To unravel this intriguing phenomenon, we propose a phenomenological model that classifies the movement of photons in a chiral crystal within the same symmetry class as that of a magnetic field. The coupling of X-ray polarization with the induced magnetization yields giant X-ray natural circular dichroism, revealing the altermagnetism of Ni$_3$TeO$_6$. Our findings provide evidence for the interplay between magnetism and crystal chirality in natural optical activity. Additionally, we establish the first example of a new class of magnetic materials exhibiting circular dichroism with time-reversal symmetry.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_07081
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Giant X-ray circular dichroism in a time-reversal invariant altermagnet
Okamoto, Jun
Wang, Ru-Pan
Chu, Yen-Yi
Shiu, Hung-Wei
Singh, Amol
Huang, Hsiao-Yu
Mou, Chung-Yu
Teh, Sucitto
Jeng, Horng-Tay
Du, Kai
Xu, Xianghan
Cheong, Sang-Wook
Du, Chao-Hung
Chen, Chien-Te
Fujimori, Atsushi
Huang, Di-Jing
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Materials Science
X-ray circular dichroism, arising from the contrast in X-ray absorption between opposite photon helicities, serves as a spectroscopic tool to measure the magnetization of ferromagnetic materials and identify the handedness of chiral crystals. Antiferromagnets with crystallographic chirality typically lack X-ray magnetic circular dichroism because of time-reversal symmetry, yet exhibit weak X-ray natural circular dichroism. Here, we report the observation of giant natural circular dichroism in the Ni $L_3$-edge X-ray absorption of Ni$_3$TeO$_6$, a polar and chiral antiferromagnet with effective time-reversal symmetry. To unravel this intriguing phenomenon, we propose a phenomenological model that classifies the movement of photons in a chiral crystal within the same symmetry class as that of a magnetic field. The coupling of X-ray polarization with the induced magnetization yields giant X-ray natural circular dichroism, revealing the altermagnetism of Ni$_3$TeO$_6$. Our findings provide evidence for the interplay between magnetism and crystal chirality in natural optical activity. Additionally, we establish the first example of a new class of magnetic materials exhibiting circular dichroism with time-reversal symmetry.
title Giant X-ray circular dichroism in a time-reversal invariant altermagnet
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.07081