The Beauty of Broken Spatial Inversion Symmetry

Noncentrosymmetric (NCS) magnets, lacking spatial inversion symmetry in the structure, play an instrumental role in the potential realization of multifunctional properties, topological magnetic spin textures, and spin liquids. These spin-based properties are at the forefront of recent technological advances in spintronics and quantum information science. Despite impressive progress in investigating NCS magnets, scientists still seek to understand the appropriate coupled spin, orbital, and phonon degrees of freedom necessary for creating and tuning targeted physical phenomena and capabilities for materials. To address this, my research team applies design logic and unmatched tunability innate to extended solids to produce materials favoring desired functionalities and to relate the adjustment of electronic frontier states to underlying magnetic interactions. For example, based on design considerations, we created a new NCS magnet, CaMnTeO₆, that features a 2-D triangular layered structure and incommensurate magnetic ground state. The static magnetic moment extracted from neutron diffraction at T = 1.6 K is consistent with that from heat capacity measurements down to T = 100 mK, but only ~ 46% the expected value for S = 3/2, suggesting some low-lying magnetic excitations and potential entanglement between spins. In this talk, I will share our current update on how and why precisely placing spin carriers in appropriate NCS frameworks provides a worthwhile pathway for realizing new physical phenomena.