Chiral phonons in polar LiNbO3

Quasiparticles describe collective excitations in many-body systems, and their symmetry classification is of fundamental importance for physical processes such as excited states, transport phenomena, and phase transitions. Recent studies have introduced chirality as an additional degree of freedom in condensed matter physics, leading to a range of novel phenomena. Among these, chiral phonons are of special interest because they carry angular momentum and therefore intrinsically break time reversal symmetry, which non-trivially bridges the spin system with the lattice. Here, we directly prove the presence of chiral phonons in a prototypical polar LiNbO₃ crystal. Our demonstration of chiral phonons in a ferroelectric enables in-situ electrical control of momentum-dependent "magnetic" polarization with the reversible phonon handedness. This ferroic control of phonon chirality has substantial potential in the emerging field of chiral phononics, particularly along the associated control of its phonon angular momentum.