A phonon-driven mechanism for an emergent and reversible chirality in crystals

2024/05/21 by Mauro Fava, Fava, Mauro, Emma E. McCabe +5 · 2 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · #Acoustic Wave Resonator Technologies #FOS: Physical sciences #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Solid-state spectroscopy and crystallography

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2405.12696

openalex publication_date 2024/05/21 · openalex created_date 2024/05/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We demonstrate through first-principles calculations applied to the K₃NiO₂ crystal that a structural phase transition from an achiral to a chiral phase can be mediated by a degenerate soft phonon mode and controlled by pressure and epitaxial strain. Breaking such degeneracy with an electric field generates a competition between enantiomorphic, polar, and orthorhombic displacements. Originated by the interaction between spontaneous chiral and induced polar and axial modes, an optimal parameter window for converting the handedness of the system into its opposite kind is observed.

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• Structural Chirality and Natural Optical Activity across the α-to-β Phase Transition in SiO₂ and AlPO₄ from first-principles
• Structural chirality and related properties in periodic inorganic solids: review and perspectives

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