Chirality-induced spin-selective Peierls transition

Abstract: Chirality, referring to the absence of mirror and inversion symmetries, is a ubiquitous concept in nature. In condensed matter physics, vigorous research has clarified how chiral materials harbour unconventional electronic and vibrational responses. In parallel, recent studies have demonstrated that chiral structures can be engineered or tuned from achiral precursors. Despite these complementary advances, an integrated understanding of electronic and phononic dynamics, self-organized chiral structures, and their interplay is still lacking. Such an integrated framework is crucial both for elucidating the spontaneous formation and stabilization of chiral structures and for advancing the electronic functionalities of chiral materials. Here, we predict novel spontaneous structural phase transitions unique to chiral crystals with screw symmetry. In quasi-one-dimensional chiral crystals, the phonon frequency renormalized by the electron-phonon coupling depends on the handedness of circular polarization. Consequently, the soft mode encoding the intrinsic phonon angular momentum induces spin-selective Peierls gaps in the electronic band, entailing a helical spin density wave and chiral lattice distortion. We also elucidate the chiral signature of collective modes. Our findings offer new avenues for advanced spintronics applications and crucial insights into the elusive mechanisms underlying the formation process of chirality in nature.