Phonon-Induced Geometric Chirality

Chiral properties have seen increasing use in recent years, leading to the emerging fields of chiral quantum optics, plasmonics, and phononics. While these fields have achieved manipulation of the chirality of light and lattice vibrations, controlling the chirality of materials on demand has yet remained elusive. Here, we demonstrate that linearly polarized phonons can be used to induce geometric chirality in achiral crystals when excited with an ultrashort laser pulse. We show that nonlinear phonon coupling quasistatically displaces the crystal structure along phonon modes that reduce the symmetry of the lattice to that of a chiral point group corresponding to a chiral crystal. By reorienting the polarization of the laser pulse, the two enantiomers can be induced selectively. Therefore, geometric chiral phonons enable the light-induced creation of chiral crystal structures and therefore the engineering of chiral electronic states and optical properties.