Photostriction-driven phase transition in layered chiral NbOX2 crystals: electrical-field-controlled enantiomer selectivity
Abstract The physical properties of chiral crystals are inherently tied to their structural handedness, making external control of chirality a key challenge for functional materials design. However, the ability to select between structural enantiomers remains challenging, both theoretically and experimentally. In this work, we demonstrate a two-step pathway for enantiomer selectivity in layered chiral NbOX 2 (X = Cl, Br, I) crystals based on photostriction-driven phase transitions. Ab-initio simulations reveal that optical excitation is capable of inducing a structural phase transition in NbOX 2 from the monoclinic ( C 2) ground state to the higher-symmetry ( C 2/ m ) structure. In the resulting transient high-symmetry state, an applied electric field breaks the residual inversion-symmetry degeneracy, selectively stabilizing one enantiomeric final state configuration over the other. Our results establish a combined optical-electrical control scheme for chiral materials, enabling reversible and non-contact enantiomer selection with potential applications in ultrafast switching, optoelectronics, and chiral information storage.
Authors
- Maia G. Vergniory (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7336-3062)
- Martin Gutierrez‐Amigo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5265-1441)
- Aritz Leonardo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5942-2270)
- Gregory A. Fiete (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9477-0804)
- Juan L. Mañes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9337-7215)
- Claudia Felser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8200-2063)
- Jorge Cardenas‐Gamboa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6465-1311)
- Jeroen van den Brink
Institutions
- Northeastern University (US)
- Université de Sherbrooke (CA)
- Harvard University (US)
- University of the Basque Country (ES)
- Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (DE)
- Complexity, Topology and Dynamics in Quantum Matter (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (DE)
- Regroupement Québécois sur les Matériaux de Pointe (CA)
- Donostia International Physics Center (ES)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
- Aalto University (FI)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Quantum Materials
- Published
- 2026-06-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-026-00911-6
- Primary Topic
- 2D Materials and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Canada Excellence Research Chairs, Government of Canada
- Eusko Jaurlaritza
- European Regional Development Fund
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación
- Division of Materials Research