Twisted light-induced spin–spin interaction in a chiral helimagnet

Abstract

We theoretically investigate how the orbital angular momentum of light can affect a chiral magnetic order. Here, we consider a metallic chiral helimagnet, which is under stationary radiation of a resonant optical vortex beam. We propose a novel interaction between local spins considering microscopic interactions between an optical vortex and electrons. This vortex-induced interaction modulates the chiral magnetic order in an entirely different way than an external magnetic field does. Our spin modulation technique may pave a route to create a unique topological or chiral structure for future opto-spintronics devices.