Imaging Orbital Vortex Lines in Three-Dimensional Momentum Space
We report the experimental discovery of orbital vortex lines in the three-dimensional (3D) band structure of a topological semimetal. Combining linear and circular dichroism in soft x-ray angle-resolved photoemission (SX-ARPES) with first-principles theory, we image the winding of atomic orbital angular momentum, thereby revealing—and determining the location of—lines of vorticity in full 3D momentum space. We determine the core of the orbital angular momentum vortex to host an almost movable, twofold, spin-degenerate Weyl nodal line, a topological feature predicted to occur in certain nonsymmorphic crystals. These results establish bimodal dichroism in SX-ARPES as a robust approach to trace 3D orbital textures. Our findings constitute the first imaging of nontrivial quantum-phase winding at line nodes and may pave the way to new orbitronic phenomena in quantum materials.
Authors
- Theo Siegrist (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5368-1442)
- Lorenzo Crippa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2526-8906)
- Lih-King Lim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4087-3139)
- Kai Roßnagel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5107-0090)
- Jens Buck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5545-0637)
- Giorgio Sangiovanni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2218-2901)
- Philipp Eck
- Hendrik Bentmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6317-5527)
- M. Ünzelmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9699-2638)
- Roderich Moessner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6415-4784)
- Jennifer Neu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4392-349X)
- Domenico Di Sante (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9956-1411)
- Moritz Hoesch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0114-2110)
- Jakub Schusser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8260-0234)
- Philipp Kagerer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9564-8501)
- B. Geldiyev
- M. Kalläne
- T. Figgemeier
- F. Reinert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7993-1171)
Institutions
- Florida A&M University - Florida State University College of Engineering (US)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
- University of Würzburg (DE)
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY (DE)
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (DE)
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (US)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
- University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (CZ)
- University of Bologna (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review X
- Published
- 2025-02-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevx.15.011032
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Black Holes and Theoretical Physics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.74
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Západočeská Univerzita v Plzni
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
- Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
- Norges Forskningsråd
- Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
- National Science Foundation, United Arab Emirates
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron
- Leibniz-Rechenzentrum
- H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions