Realization of a parity-violating antiferromagnetic state in LaMnSi

TL;DR

This study provides direct experimental evidence of a parity-violating antiferromagnetic state in LaMnSi, revealing its unique electronic structure and potential for nonreciprocal electronic responses in quantum materials.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates the realization of a parity-violating AFM state in LaMnSi using combined ARPES and SHG techniques, confirming theoretical predictions.

Findings

Soft x-ray ARPES matches DFT calculations for AFM phase

SHG microscopy detects sign-reversing responses in AFM domains

LaMnSi identified as a parity-violating AFM metal

Abstract

Spontaneous symmetry breaking underlies functional electronic phenomena in quantum materials. Breaking space-inversion ($\mathcal{P}$) or time-reversal ($\mathcal{T}$) symmetry can generate spin-split electronic bands central to modern spintronics. By contrast, parity-violating antiferromagnetic (AFM) order breaks both $\mathcal{P}$ and $\mathcal{T}$ while preserving the combined $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry, enabling spin-degenerate yet momentum-asymmetric electronic bands. This momentum asymmetry has been proposed as a microscopic origin of unconventional nonreciprocal and nonlinear responses but its experimental verification has remained challenging because it requires establishing both the symmetry-breaking magnetic order and the associated electronic structure. Here we combine soft x-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and polarization-resolved optical second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy to study LaMnSi, a candidate parity-violating AFM metal. Soft x-ray ARPES resolves the three-dimensional bulk band structures in agreement with density functional theory calculations for the AFM phase, whereas SHG microscopy detects sign-reversing nonlinear optical responses from opposite AFM domains that carry $\mathcal{T}$-odd parity-violating order. Together, these results provide direct evidence for parity-violating AFM state in LaMnSi, establish LaMnSi as a parity-violating AFM metal, and identify this class of AFMs as a promising platform for symmetry-controlled nonreciprocal and nonlinear electronic responses.