Theory and Experiment of Chirality-induced Magnetic Nonreciprocity Manifested by Coupling Phase

TL;DR

This paper explores the mechanisms of magnetic nonreciprocity induced by chirality, combining theoretical modeling and experiments to unify understanding of conventional and synthetic chirality effects.

Contribution

It introduces a microscopic theoretical framework linking field polarization and coupling phase, validated by experiments, to unify conventional and synthetic chirality mechanisms.

Findings

Established a formalism connecting polarization and coupling phase.

Validated the framework through systematic experiments.

Highlighted the unique features of synthetic chirality.

Abstract

Magnetic interactions have long served as the most robust and widely used approach for realizing nonreciprocity, with an externally applied magnetic field breaking time-reversal symmetry (TRS) and chiral photon-magnon interactions introducing spatial asymmetry. In this work, we investigate the chirality mechanisms essential for magnetic nonreciprocity from a unified experimental and theoretical perspective. We begin by examining conventional chiral interactions that generate chiral electromagnetic fields through specially designed structures, and then place particular emphasis on synthetic chirality enabled by nontrivial phase accumulation in traveling-wave-mediated coupling systems. We establish a microscopic theoretical framework that maps field polarization onto the phase of a complex coupling strength and validate it with systematic experiments, thereby providing a consistent formalism that describes both conventional and synthetic chirality. Notably, we highlight the symmetry properties and the unique features of synthetic chirality that distinguish it from conventional nonreciprocal mechanisms.