Optical method to detect the relationship between chirality of reciprocal space chiral multifold fermions and real space chiral crystals

Abstract

The chirality of chiral multifold fermions in reciprocal space is related to the chirality of crystal lattice structures in real space. In this study, we propose a strategy to detect and identify multifold fermions of opposite chirality in nonmagnetic systems using second-order optical transports. Chiral crystals related with inversion operations cannot be made to overlap with each other via any experimental operation. Further, chiral multifold fermions within such crystals host opposite chiralities corresponding to a given k point. A change in chirality is indicated by a corresponding change in the sign of the second-order charge current dominated by chiral fermions. This property can be exploited to study the relationship between chiralities in reciprocal and real spaces by utilizing bulk transport.