Chiral phonons in quartz probed by X-rays.

ABSTRACT: The concept of chirality is of great relevance in nature, from chiral molecules such as sugar to parity transformations in particle physics. In condensed matter physics, recent studies have demonstrated chiral fermions and their relevance in emergent phenomena closely related to topology^1-3. The experimental verification of chiral phonons (bosons) remains challenging, however, despite their expected strong impact on fundamental physical properties^4-6. Here we show experimental proof of chiral phonons using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering with circularly polarized X-rays. Using the prototypical chiral material quartz, we demonstrate that circularly polarized X-rays, which are intrinsically chiral, couple to chiral phonons at specific positions in reciprocal space,

SUBMITTER: Ueda H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10307621 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature