Scissors modes in crystals with cubic symmetry

TL;DR

This paper explores the theoretical possibility of Scissors Modes in cubic crystal symmetry, analyzing their characteristics and photo-absorption properties, extending previous work on axially symmetric systems.

Contribution

It generalizes the concept of Scissors Modes to cubic symmetry crystals and evaluates their photo-absorption cross-section without directional correlation.

Findings

Photo-absorption cross-section similar to axially symmetric crystals

No correlation between photon direction and crystal axes

Potential for observing dichroism in cubic crystals

Abstract

We recently suggested that the Scissors Mode (a collective excitation in which one system rotates with respect another one conserving its shape) can occur in crystals with axially symmetric atoms as a precession of these atoms around the anisotropy axis of their cells, giving rise to a form of dichroism. In the present paper we investigate how the Scissors Mode can be realized in crystals with cubic symmetry and evaluate its photo-absorption cross-section. This turns out to be of the same order of magnitude as that for crystals with axially symmetric atoms, but does not exhibit any correlation between the direction of the photon and the axes of the cell.