Magnetic Imaging of Macroscopic Spin Chirality Flipping

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Miao, H., Fabbris, G., Bouaziz, J., Meier, W. R., Lozano, P. Mercado, Choi, Y., Strempfer, J., Haskel, D., Blügel, S., Cook, M., Brahlek, M., Lee, H. N., Christianson, A. D., May, A. F., Okamoto, S.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Miao, H.
Fabbris, G.
Bouaziz, J.
Meier, W. R.
Lozano, P. Mercado
Choi, Y.
Strempfer, J.
Haskel, D.
Blügel, S.
Cook, M.
Brahlek, M.
Lee, H. N.
Christianson, A. D.
May, A. F.
Okamoto, S.
author_facet Miao, H.
Fabbris, G.
Bouaziz, J.
Meier, W. R.
Lozano, P. Mercado
Choi, Y.
Strempfer, J.
Haskel, D.
Blügel, S.
Cook, M.
Brahlek, M.
Lee, H. N.
Christianson, A. D.
May, A. F.
Okamoto, S.
contents Chirality is a fundamental organizing principle of correlated and topological states. In quantum magnets, chirality arises from the geometric twisting of spins and serves as an emergent source of Berry curvature and quantum metrics. Although external fields can reversibly tune the spin chirality, understanding how spontaneous reversal occurs on macroscopic length scale remains an unresolved challenge. In this letter, we use resonant magnetic x-ray scattering with 2.5-micron spatial resolution to image intertwined spin, charge, and lattice orders of the correlated topological magnet EuAl4. We uncover a macroscopic chirality flipping transition and a remarkable chiral memory effect. The chiral magnetic domain tracks the landscape of the underlying charge density wave, implicating emergent chiral magnetic interactions arising from competing chiral and nematic lattice fields. Our results reveal the fundamental significance of magnetoelastic coupling in stabilizing homochiral and topological magnetic states.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_15793
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Magnetic Imaging of Macroscopic Spin Chirality Flipping
Miao, H.
Fabbris, G.
Bouaziz, J.
Meier, W. R.
Lozano, P. Mercado
Choi, Y.
Strempfer, J.
Haskel, D.
Blügel, S.
Cook, M.
Brahlek, M.
Lee, H. N.
Christianson, A. D.
May, A. F.
Okamoto, S.
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Chirality is a fundamental organizing principle of correlated and topological states. In quantum magnets, chirality arises from the geometric twisting of spins and serves as an emergent source of Berry curvature and quantum metrics. Although external fields can reversibly tune the spin chirality, understanding how spontaneous reversal occurs on macroscopic length scale remains an unresolved challenge. In this letter, we use resonant magnetic x-ray scattering with 2.5-micron spatial resolution to image intertwined spin, charge, and lattice orders of the correlated topological magnet EuAl4. We uncover a macroscopic chirality flipping transition and a remarkable chiral memory effect. The chiral magnetic domain tracks the landscape of the underlying charge density wave, implicating emergent chiral magnetic interactions arising from competing chiral and nematic lattice fields. Our results reveal the fundamental significance of magnetoelastic coupling in stabilizing homochiral and topological magnetic states.
title Magnetic Imaging of Macroscopic Spin Chirality Flipping
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.15793