Signatures of a surface spin–orbital chiral metal

The relation between crystal symmetries, electron correlations and electronic structure steers the formation of a large array of unconventional phases of matter, including magneto-electric loop currents and chiral magnetism[1-6]. The detection of such hidden orders is an important goal in condensed-matter physics. However, until now, non-standard forms of magnetism with chiral electronic ordering have been difficult to detect experimentally[7]. Here we develop a theory for symmetry-broken chiral ground states and propose a methodology based on circularly polarized, spin-selective, angular-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy to study them. We use the archetypal quantum material Sr2RuO4 and reveal spectroscopic signatures that, despite being subtle, can be reconciled with the formation of spin-orbital chiral currents at the surface of the material[8-10]. As we shed light on these chiral regimes, our findings pave the way for a deeper understanding of ordering phenomena and unconventional magnetism.