Chiral-phonon-induced current in helical crystals

Abstract

In this paper, we theoretically show that in a helical crystal, a current is induced by chiral phonons representing the microscopic local rotation of atoms. By treating the rotational motion as a perturbation, we calculate the time-dependent current by using the adiabatic Berry phase method. The time average of the current along the helical axis becomes finite in the metallic phase but it vanishes in the insulating phase. On the other hand, the current in the hexagonal plane changes with time, but its time average vanishes due to the threefold rotation space-time symmetry. We show that the time evolutions of the current follow the space-time symmetries of the helical systems. Moreover, we explain the reason for the vanishing of the time average of the current in the insulating phase from the aspect of the Chern number in the parameter space.