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Updated: Jun 25, 2025

Coulomb Explosion Imaging as a Tool to Distinguish Between Stereoisomers
Published on: August 18, 2017
Chirality-Driven Orbital Angular Momentum and Circular Dichroism in CoSi
Stefanie Suzanne Brinkman1, Xin Liang Tan1,2,3, Bjørnulf Brekke1
1Center for Quantum Spintronics, Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway.
Abstract:
Chiral crystals and molecules were recently predicted to form an intriguing platform for unconventional orbital physics. Here, we report the observation of chirality-driven orbital textures in the bulk electronic structure of CoSi, a prototype member of the cubic B20 family of chiral crystals. Using circular dichroism in soft x-ray angle-resolved photoemission, we demonstrate the formation of a bulk orbital-angular-momentum texture and monopolelike orbital-momentum locking that depends on crystal handedness. We introduce the intrinsic chiral circular dichroism, icCD, as a differential photoemission observable and a natural probe of chiral electron states. Our findings render chiral crystals promising for spin-orbitronics applications.
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