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Updated: Jan 6, 2026

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
Emergent Inductance from Chiral Orbital Currents in a Bulk Ferrimagnet
Gang Cao1,2, Hengdi Zhao1, Yu Zhang1
1University of Colorado at Boulder, Department of Physics, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
None:
We report the discovery of a new form of inductance in the bulk ferrimagnet Mn_{3}Si_{2}Te_{6}, which features strong spin-orbit coupling, large magnetic anisotropy, and pronounced magnetoelastic interactions. Below its Curie temperature (T_{C}≈78 K), Mn_{3}Si_{2}Te_{6} hosts chiral orbital currents (COC) that circulate within the crystal lattice and give rise to collective electronic behavior [Control of chiral orbital currents in a colossal magnetoresistance material, Nature (London) 611, 467 (2022).NATUAS0028-083610.1038/s41586-022-05262-3]. By applying a magnetic field along the hard c axis and driving the system with low-frequency currents, we uncover a giant inductive response up to millhenry scale, originating from first-order reconfigurations of COC domains. These domains act as coherent mesoscopic inductive elements that resist reversal upon current reduction, producing a large electromotive force and sharply increasing voltage. This emergent inductance defies classical models, occurs without superconductivity or engineered nanostructures, and opens a new frontier in orbital-based quantum functionality and device concepts.
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