Axion optical induction of antiferromagnetic order

Jian-Xiang Qiu; Christian Tzschaschel; Junyeong Ahn; Anyuan Gao; Houchen Li; Xin-Yue Zhang; Barun Ghosh; Chaowei Hu; Yu-Xuan Wang; Yu-Fei Liu; Damien Bérubé; Thao Dinh; Zhenhao Gong; Shang-Wei Lien; Sheng-Chin Ho; Bahadur Singh; Kenji Watanabe; Takashi Taniguchi; David C Bell; Hai-Zhou Lu; Arun Bansil; Hsin Lin; Tay-Rong Chang; Brian B Zhou; Qiong Ma; Ashvin Vishwanath; Ni Ni; Su-Yang Xu

doi:10.1038/s41563-023-01493-5

Axion optical induction of antiferromagnetic order

Nat Mater. 2023 May;22(5):583-590. doi: 10.1038/s41563-023-01493-5. Epub 2023 Mar 9.

Authors

Jian-Xiang Qiu¹, Christian Tzschaschel¹, Junyeong Ahn², Anyuan Gao¹, Houchen Li¹, Xin-Yue Zhang³, Barun Ghosh⁴, Chaowei Hu⁵, Yu-Xuan Wang³, Yu-Fei Liu^{1

2}, Damien Bérubé¹, Thao Dinh^{1

2}, Zhenhao Gong^{6

7

8

9}, Shang-Wei Lien^{10

11

12}, Sheng-Chin Ho¹, Bahadur Singh¹³, Kenji Watanabe¹⁴, Takashi Taniguchi¹⁵, David C Bell^{16

17}, Hai-Zhou Lu^{6

7

8

9}, Arun Bansil⁴, Hsin Lin¹⁸, Tay-Rong Chang^{10

11

12}, Brian B Zhou³, Qiong Ma^{3

19}, Ashvin Vishwanath², Ni Ni²⁰, Su-Yang Xu²¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
² Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
³ Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA.
⁴ Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁶ Shenzhen Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering and Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, China.
⁷ Quantum Science Center of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Guangdong), Shenzhen, China.
⁸ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Quantum Science and Engineering, Shenzhen, China.
⁹ International Quantum Academy, Shenzhen, China.
¹⁰ Department of Physics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
¹¹ Center for Quantum Frontiers of Research and Technology (QFort), Tainan, Taiwan.
¹² Physics Division, National Center for Theoretical Sciences, Taipei, Taiwan.
¹³ Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India.
¹⁴ Research Center for Functional Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan.
¹⁵ International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan.
¹⁶ Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
¹⁷ Center for Nanoscale Systems, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
¹⁸ Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
¹⁹ Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Canada.
²⁰ Department of Physics and Astronomy and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. nini@physics.ucla.edu.
²¹ Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. suyangxu@fas.harvard.edu.

PMID: 36894774
DOI: 10.1038/s41563-023-01493-5

Abstract

Using circularly polarized light to control quantum matter is a highly intriguing topic in physics, chemistry and biology. Previous studies have demonstrated helicity-dependent optical control of chirality and magnetization, with important implications in asymmetric synthesis in chemistry; homochirality in biomolecules; and ferromagnetic spintronics. We report the surprising observation of helicity-dependent optical control of fully compensated antiferromagnetic order in two-dimensional even-layered MnBi₂Te₄, a topological axion insulator with neither chirality nor magnetization. To understand this control, we study an antiferromagnetic circular dichroism, which appears only in reflection but is absent in transmission. We show that the optical control and circular dichroism both arise from the optical axion electrodynamics. Our axion induction provides the possibility to optically control a family of [Formula: see text]-symmetric antiferromagnets ([Formula: see text], inversion; [Formula: see text], time-reversal) such as Cr₂O₃, even-layered CrI₃ and possibly the pseudo-gap state in cuprates. In MnBi₂Te₄, this further opens the door for optical writing of a dissipationless circuit formed by topological edge states.