Photo-induced chirality in a nonchiral crystal

Zeng, Z.; Först, M.; Fechner, M.; Buzzi, M.; Amuah, E.; Putzke, C.; Moll, P. J. W.; Prabhakaran, D.; Radaelli, P.; Cavalleri, A.

doi:10.1126/science.adr4713

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Journal Article

Photo-induced chirality in a nonchiral crystal

MPS-Authors

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Zeng, Z.
Quantum Condensed Matter Dynamics, Condensed Matter Dynamics Department, Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Max Planck Society;
Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford;

/persons/resource/persons133775

Först, M.
Quantum Condensed Matter Dynamics, Condensed Matter Dynamics Department, Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons222262

Fechner, M.
Quantum Condensed Matter Dynamics, Condensed Matter Dynamics Department, Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons224588

Buzzi, M.
Quantum Condensed Matter Dynamics, Condensed Matter Dynamics Department, Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons300186

Amuah, E.
Quantum Condensed Matter Dynamics, Condensed Matter Dynamics Department, Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons242811

Putzke, C.
Microstructured Quantum Matter Department, Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons191608

Moll, P. J. W.
Microstructured Quantum Matter Department, Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons133811

Cavalleri, A.
Quantum Condensed Matter Dynamics, Condensed Matter Dynamics Department, Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Max Planck Society;
Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford;

External Resource

https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.08491
(Preprint)

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adr4713
(Publisher version)

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adv0319
(Supplementary material)

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2407.08491.pdf
(Preprint), 4MB

Supplementary Material (public)

science.adr4713_sm.pdf
(Supplementary material), 2MB

Citation

Zeng, Z., Först, M., Fechner, M., Buzzi, M., Amuah, E., Putzke, C., et al. (2025). Photo-induced chirality in a nonchiral crystal. Science, 387(6732), 431-436. doi:10.1126/science.adr4713.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000F-8F0B-5

Abstract

Chirality, a pervasive form of symmetry, is intimately connected to the physical properties of solids, as well as the chemical and biological activity of molecular systems. However, inducing chirality in a nonchiral material is challenging because this requires that all mirrors and all roto-inversions be simultaneously broken. Here, we show that chirality of either handedness can be induced in the nonchiral piezoelectric material boron phosphate (BPO₄) by irradiation with terahertz pulses. Resonant excitation of either one of two orthogonal, degenerate vibrational modes determines the sign of the induced chiral order parameter. The optical activity of the photo-induced phases is comparable to the static value of prototypical chiral α-quartz. Our findings offer new prospects for the control of out-of-equilibrium quantum phenomena in complex materials.