English

Coupled Spin-Orbital $p$-Wave Magnetism via Structural and Magnetic Chirality

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2026-07-02 v1

Abstract

Helical spin textures represent the minimal realization of pp-wave magnetism which is characterized by momentum-odd spin polarization. Independently, structurally chiral crystals exhibit momentum-odd orbital polarization arising from broken inversion symmetry. Here, we demonstrate that spin-orbit coupling couples these two independent microscopic chirality degrees of freedom, allowing the orbital polarization of a chiral crystal to generate an additional contribution to the pp-wave spin splitting. The resulting spin-orbital state is naturally classified by the relative chirality η=χcχm\eta=\chi_{\mathrm c}\chi_{\mathrm m}, giving rise to two symmetry-distinct pp-wave phases corresponding to homochiral and heterochiral configurations which can be directly probed by the longitudinal conductivity. These phases exhibit distinct transport signatures, establishing relative chirality as an experimentally accessible symmetry degree of freedom in chiral magnetic systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.02378,
  title  = {Coupled Spin-Orbital $p$-Wave Magnetism via Structural and Magnetic Chirality},
  author = {Tom G. Saunderson and Börge Göbel and Ersoy Şaşıoğlu and Samir Lounis},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.02378},
  year   = {2026}
}