Theory of infrared magneto-optical effects from chiral phonons in solids

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Fiorazzo, Chiara, Park, Cheol-Hwan, Souza, Ivo, Calandra, Matteo
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866913890863939584
author Fiorazzo, Chiara
Park, Cheol-Hwan
Souza, Ivo
Calandra, Matteo
author_facet Fiorazzo, Chiara
Park, Cheol-Hwan
Souza, Ivo
Calandra, Matteo
contents In crystals with broken time-reversal symmetry, zone-center phonons can acquire a finite angular momentum via velocity-dependent forces on the nuclei. Despite having the same order of magnitude as the electron spin angular momentum, the phonon angular momentum can be hard to detect because the frequency splitting is small. Here, by developing a theory of lattice magneto-optical effects in reflection and transmission, we show that infrared magnetic circular dichroism is a sensitive probe of zone-center phonon chirality. We evaluate the infrared magneto-optical Faraday, Kerr, and circular-dichroism spectra of CrI$_3$ from time-dependent density-functional theory in the adiabatic local-density approximation. We find sizeable circular dichroism from the infrared-active E$_u$ mode at $\approx 214$ cm$^{-1}$, even though the calculated splitting is only 0.22 cm$^{-1}$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_11258
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Theory of infrared magneto-optical effects from chiral phonons in solids
Fiorazzo, Chiara
Park, Cheol-Hwan
Souza, Ivo
Calandra, Matteo
Materials Science
Other Condensed Matter
In crystals with broken time-reversal symmetry, zone-center phonons can acquire a finite angular momentum via velocity-dependent forces on the nuclei. Despite having the same order of magnitude as the electron spin angular momentum, the phonon angular momentum can be hard to detect because the frequency splitting is small. Here, by developing a theory of lattice magneto-optical effects in reflection and transmission, we show that infrared magnetic circular dichroism is a sensitive probe of zone-center phonon chirality. We evaluate the infrared magneto-optical Faraday, Kerr, and circular-dichroism spectra of CrI$_3$ from time-dependent density-functional theory in the adiabatic local-density approximation. We find sizeable circular dichroism from the infrared-active E$_u$ mode at $\approx 214$ cm$^{-1}$, even though the calculated splitting is only 0.22 cm$^{-1}$.
title Theory of infrared magneto-optical effects from chiral phonons in solids
topic Materials Science
Other Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.11258