Orbital Topology of Chiral Crystals for Orbitronics
Chirality is ubiquitous in nature and manifests in a wide range of phenomena including chemical reactions, biological processes, and quantum transport of electrons. In quantum materials, the chirality of fermions, given by the relative directions between the electron spin and momentum, is connected to the band topology of electronic states. This study shows that in structurally chiral materials like CoSi, the orbital angular momentum (OAM) serves as the main driver of a nontrivial band topology in this new class of unconventional topological semimetals, even when spin-orbit coupling is negligible. A nontrivial orbital-momentum locking of multifold chiral fermions in the bulk leads to a pronounced OAM texture of the helicoid Fermi arcs at the surface. The study highlights the pivotal role of the orbital degree of freedom for the chirality and topology of electron states, in general, and paves the way towards the application of topological chiral semimetals in orbitronic devices.
Authors
- Christian Tusche (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6587-1956)
- Kenta Hagiwara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4426-9178)
- Dongwook Go (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5740-3829)
- Sergii Grytsiuk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0499-6944)
- Stefan Blügel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9987-4733)
- Minn‐Tsong Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7735-4219)
- Xianglin Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0324-4687)
- Claus M. Schneider (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3920-6255)
- Guo‐Jiun Shu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9347-9812)
- Ying‐Jiun Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0821-6343)
- Yuriy Mokrousov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1072-2421)
- Vitaliy Feyer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7104-5420)
- Yao Shen
- Xin Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1739-6454)
- Iulia Cojocariu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6408-3541)
- Kui‐Hon Ou Yang
- Jing Chien
Institutions
- National Taipei University of Technology (TW)
- National Taiwan University (TW)
- Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE)
- Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE)
- Ernst Ruska Centre (DE)
- Research Center for Applied Science, Academia Sinica (TW)
- Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica (TW)
- University of Duisburg-Essen (DE)
- University of California, Davis (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Materials
- Published
- 2025-05-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202418040
- Citations
- 7
- Primary Topic
- Topological Materials and Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.73
Funders
- Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
- Bayerische Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft, Landesentwicklung und Energie
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme