Kerr effect as evidence of gyrotropic order in the cuprates

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Kerr effect as evidence of gyrotropic order in the cuprates

Pavan Hosur, A. Kapitulnik, S. A. Kivelson, J. Orenstein, and S. Raghu

Phys. Rev. B 87, 115116 – Published 11 March 2013; Erratum Phys. Rev. B 91, 039908 (2015)

Abstract

The Kerr effect can arise in a time-reversal invariant dissipative medium that is “gyrotropic,” i.e., one that breaks inversion ( $I$ ) and all mirror symmetries. Examples of such systems include electron analogs of cholesteric liquid crystals and their descendants, such as systems with chiral charge ordering. We present arguments that the striking Kerr onset seen in the pseudogap phase of a large number of cuprate high-temperature superconductors is an evidence of chiral charge ordering. We discuss additional experimental consequences of a phase transition to a gyrotropic state, including the appearance of a zero-field Nernst effect.

Received 25 December 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.87.115116

Erratum

Erratum: Kerr effect as evidence of gyrotropic order in the cuprates [Phys. Rev. B 87, 115116 (2013)]

Pavan Hosur, A. Kapitulnik, S. A. Kivelson, J. Orenstein, S. Raghu, W. Cho, and A. Fried

Phys. Rev. B 91, 039908 (2015)

Authors & Affiliations

Pavan Hosur¹, A. Kapitulnik¹, S. A. Kivelson¹, J. Orenstein^2,3, and S. Raghu^1,4

¹Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
²Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
³Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
⁴SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA

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Vol. 87, Iss. 11 — 15 March 2013

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