Observation of magnetically switchable quantum geometric photocurrents
Pith reviewed 2026-05-22 04:10 UTC · model grok-4.3
The pith
First experimental demonstration of linear injection and circular shift photocurrents that switch with the Néel vector in a magnetic crystal, confirming their quantum geometric origin via frequency and temperature dependence.
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
Core claim
We demonstrate the existence of such currents for the first time, demonstrating the switching of the current by flipping the Néel vector in a van der Waals antiferromagnet. Furthermore, their specific frequency and temperature dependence confirm the assignment of circular shift and linear injection currents.
Load-bearing premise
The measured photocurrents arise specifically from the predicted quantum-geometric mechanisms (linear injection probing quantum metric, circular shift probing geometric torsion) rather than conventional photovoltaic or magnetic artifacts, with the frequency and temperature dependence serving as the distinguishing evidence.
Figures
read the original abstract
In non-centrosymmetric materials, light can be rectified into two types of DC photocurrents, known as injection and shift currents, through the bulk photovoltaic effect. Recent theory has uncovered their deep relation with the two-state quantum geometry of resonant transitions: In non-magnetic crystals, where these currents have been routinely observed, the injection current responds to circular light and probes the Berry curvature, while the shift current responds to linear light and probes the geometric connection. Magnetic crystals have been predicted to show a new set of hitherto unobserved magnetically switchable photocurrents, with the roles of linear and circular light interchanged: A linear injection current, which probes the quantum metric, and a circular shift current, which probes the geometric torsion. In this work, we demonstrate the existence of such currents for the first time, demonstrating the switching of the current by flipping the N\'eel vector in a van der Waals antiferromagnet. Furthermore, their specific frequency and temperature dependence confirm the assignment of circular shift and linear injection currents. Our work demonstrates a new way to control photocurrents in magnets that are directly tied to geometry and have promising applications in antiferromagnetic spintronics and light harvesting.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The manuscript reports the first experimental observation of magnetically switchable quantum-geometric photocurrents in a van der Waals antiferromagnet. Linear injection currents (probing the quantum metric) and circular shift currents (probing geometric torsion) are shown to reverse upon flipping the Néel vector. Frequency and temperature scalings are presented as confirmation that the observed currents arise from the predicted quantum-geometric mechanisms rather than conventional photovoltaic or magnetic artifacts.
Significance. If the central assignment holds, the result is significant: it realizes previously predicted but unobserved magnetically switchable photocurrents in which the roles of linear and circular polarization are interchanged relative to non-magnetic crystals. The work supplies raw photocurrent traces, polarization dependence, and explicit comparison of measured versus expected scaling forms, thereby addressing conventional-artifact alternatives through reported controls. This provides a new geometry-based handle on photocurrent control in antiferromagnets with potential relevance to spintronics and light harvesting.
minor comments (3)
- Figure 3: the polarization-dependence plots would benefit from explicit overlay of the expected sin(2θ) or cos(2θ) forms for injection and shift currents to make the assignment visually immediate.
- §5.2: the temperature-dependence fitting procedure is described only qualitatively; a brief statement of the functional form used (e.g., 1/T for linear injection) and the χ² value would strengthen the claim that the scaling distinguishes the quantum-geometric channel.
- The abstract states that frequency and temperature dependence 'confirm the assignment,' but the main text does not tabulate the expected versus measured exponents; adding a short comparison table would improve clarity.
Simulated Author's Rebuttal
We thank the referee for their positive assessment of our manuscript, including the recognition of its significance as the first experimental demonstration of magnetically switchable quantum-geometric photocurrents with interchanged linear and circular roles relative to non-magnetic crystals. We appreciate the recommendation for minor revision and will address any editorial or minor technical points in the revised version.
Circularity Check
No significant circularity detected
full rationale
The manuscript is an experimental report demonstrating the first observation of magnetically switchable linear-injection and circular-shift photocurrents in a van der Waals antiferromagnet, with the Néel-vector switching and the frequency/temperature scalings used to assign the currents to the quantum-geometric mechanisms (quantum metric and geometric torsion) predicted by prior theory. The load-bearing steps consist of direct measurements, polarization dependence, and explicit comparison of observed scalings against the expected functional forms; these are not obtained by fitting parameters to the target quantities or by self-referential definitions. No equations or claims in the provided abstract or described structure reduce a prediction to its own input by construction, and the cited prior theory is external to the present work. The derivation chain is therefore self-contained against external benchmarks.
Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger
Reference graph
Works this paper leans on
-
[1]
Reviews of modern physics , volume=
Berry phase effects on electronic properties , author=. Reviews of modern physics , volume=. 2010 , publisher=
work page 2010
-
[2]
Measurements of the quantum geometric tensor in solids , author=. Nature Physics , volume=. 2025 , publisher=
work page 2025
-
[3]
Quantum metric nonlinear Hall effect in a topological antiferromagnetic heterostructure , author=. Science , volume=. 2023 , publisher=
work page 2023
-
[4]
Quantum-metric-induced nonlinear transport in a topological antiferromagnet , author=. Nature , volume=. 2023 , publisher=
work page 2023
-
[5]
Nature communications , volume=
Quantized circular photogalvanic effect in Weyl semimetals , author=. Nature communications , volume=. 2017 , publisher=
work page 2017
-
[6]
Physical Review Letters , volume=
Essay: Where can quantum geometry lead us? , author=. Physical Review Letters , volume=. 2023 , publisher=
work page 2023
-
[7]
npj Quantum Materials , volume=
Quantum geometry in quantum materials , author=. npj Quantum Materials , volume=. 2025 , publisher=
work page 2025
-
[8]
Reports on Progress in Physics , year=
Revealing quantum geometry in nonlinear quantum materials , author=. Reports on Progress in Physics , year=
-
[9]
National Science Review , volume=
Quantum geometry in condensed matter , author=. National Science Review , volume=. 2025 , publisher=
work page 2025
-
[10]
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , volume=
Defect tolerant zero-bias topological photocurrent in a ferroelectric semiconductor , author=. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , volume=. 2020 , publisher=
work page 2020
-
[11]
Giant anisotropic nonlinear optical response in transition metal monopnictide Weyl semimetals , author=. Nature Physics , volume=. 2017 , publisher=
work page 2017
-
[12]
Topological nature of nonlinear optical effects in solids , author=. Science advances , volume=. 2016 , publisher=
work page 2016
-
[13]
Helicity-dependent photocurrents in the chiral Weyl semimetal RhSi , author=. Science advances , volume=. 2020 , publisher=
work page 2020
-
[14]
Gao, Y and Kaushik, S and Philip, EJ and Li, Z and Qin, Y and Liu, YP and Zhang, WL and Su, YL and Chen, X and Weng, H and others , journal=. 2020 , publisher=
work page 2020
-
[15]
Temperature-induced inversion of the spin-photogalvanic effect in WTe 2 and MoTe 2 , author=. Physical Review B , volume=. 2018 , publisher=
work page 2018
-
[16]
Ma, Junchao and Gu, Qiangqiang and Liu, Yinan and Lai, Jiawei and Yu, Peng and Zhuo, Xiao and Liu, Zheng and Chen, Jian-Hao and Feng, Ji and Sun, Dong , journal=
-
[17]
Ji, Zhurun and Liu, Gerui and Addison, Zachariah and Liu, Wenjing and Yu, Peng and Gao, Heng and Liu, Zheng and Rappe, Andrew M and Kane, Charles L and Mele, Eugene J and others , journal=. 2019 , publisher=
work page 2019
-
[18]
Sirica, N and Tobey, RI and Zhao, LX and Chen, GF and Xu, B and Yang, R and Shen, B and Yarotski, DA and Bowlan, P and Trugman, SA and others , journal=. 2019 , publisher=
work page 2019
-
[19]
Osterhoudt, Gavin B and Diebel, Laura K and Gray, Mason J and Yang, Xu and Stanco, John and Huang, Xiangwei and Shen, Bing and Ni, Ni and Moll, Philip JW and Ran, Ying and others , journal=. 2019 , publisher=
work page 2019
-
[20]
Ma, Qiong and Xu, Su-Yang and Chan, Ching-Kit and Zhang, Cheng-Long and Chang, Guoqing and Lin, Yuxuan and Xie, Weiwei and Palacios, Tom. Nature Physics , volume=. 2017 , publisher=
work page 2017
-
[21]
npj Quantum Materials , volume=
Linear and nonlinear optical responses in the chiral multifold semimetal RhSi , author=. npj Quantum Materials , volume=. 2020 , publisher=
work page 2020
-
[22]
von Baltz, Ralph and Kraut, Wolfgang , title =. Physical Review B , volume =. 1981 , type =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.23.5590 , url =
-
[23]
Sipe, J. E. and Shkrebtii, A. I. , title =. Physical Review B , volume =. 2000 , type =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.61.5337 , url =
-
[24]
Aversa, Claudio and Sipe, J. E. , title =. Physical Review B , volume =. 1995 , type =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.52.14636 , url =
-
[25]
Côté, D. and Laman, N. and van Driel, H. M. , title =. Applied Physics Letters , volume =. 2002 , type =. doi:10.1063/1.1436530 , url =
-
[26]
Laman, N. and Bieler, M. and van Driel, H. M. , title =. Journal of Applied Physics , volume =. 2005 , type =
work page 2005
-
[27]
Nastos, F. and Sipe, J. E. , title =. Physical Review B , volume =. 2006 , type =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.74.035201 , url =
-
[28]
First Principles Calculation of the Shift Current Photovoltaic Effect in Ferroelectrics , author =. Phys. Rev. Lett. , volume =. 2012 , month =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.116601 , url =
-
[29]
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , volume =
Sotome, M and Nakamura, M and Fujioka, J and Ogino, M and Kaneko, Y and Morimoto, T and Zhang, Y and Kawasaki, M and Nagaosa, N and Tokura, Y , title =. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , volume =. 2019 , doi =
work page 2019
-
[30]
Injection current in ferroelectric group-IV monochalcogenide monolayers , author =. Phys. Rev. B , volume =. 2019 , month =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.100.195305 , url =
-
[31]
Watanabe, Hikaru and Yanase, Youichi , title =. Physical Review X , volume =. 2021 , type =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.11.011001 , url =
-
[32]
Physical Review Letters , volume =
Gao, Yang and Zhang, Yinhan and Xiao, Di , title =. Physical Review Letters , volume =. 2020 , type =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.077401 , url =
-
[33]
Low-Frequency Divergence and Quantum Geometry of the Bulk Photovoltaic Effect in Topological Semimetals , author =. Phys. Rev. X , volume =. 2020 , month =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.10.041041 , url =
-
[34]
Photocurrents in Weyl semimetals , author =. Phys. Rev. B , volume =. 2017 , month =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.95.041104 , url =
-
[35]
Ni, Zhuoliang and Wang, K. and Zhang, Y. and Pozo, O. and Xu, B. and Han, X. and Manna, K. and Paglione, J. and Felser, C. and Grushin, A. G. and de Juan, F. and Mele, E. J. and Wu, Liang , title =. Nature Communications , volume =. 2021 , type =. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-20408-5 , url =
-
[36]
and Morimoto, Takahiro and Orenstein, Joseph and Moore, Joel E
Parker, Daniel E. and Morimoto, Takahiro and Orenstein, Joseph and Moore, Joel E. , title =. Physical Review B , volume =. 2019 , type =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.99.045121 , url =
-
[37]
Ventura, G. B. and Passos, D. J. and Lopes dos Santos, J. M. B. and Viana Parente Lopes, J. M. and Peres, N. M. R. , title =. Physical Review B , volume =. 2017 , type =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.96.035431 , url =
-
[38]
Chen, Haowei and Ye, Meng and Zou, Nianlong and Gu, Bing-Lin and Xu, Yong and Duan, Wenhui , title =. Physical Review B , volume =. 2022 , type =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.105.075123 , url =
-
[39]
Nature Communications , volume =
Zhang, Yang and Holder, Tobias and Ishizuka, Hiroaki and de Juan, Fernando and Nagaosa, Naoto and Felser, Claudia and Yan, Binghai , title =. Nature Communications , volume =. 2019 , type =. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-11832-3 , url =
-
[40]
npj Computational Materials , volume =
Wang, Hua and Qian, Xiaofeng , title =. npj Computational Materials , volume =. 2020 , type =. doi:10.1038/s41524-020-00462-9 , url =
-
[41]
Fei, Ruixiang and Song, Wenshen and Yang, Li , title =. Physical Review B , volume =. 2020 , type =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.102.035440 , url =
-
[42]
Pi, Hanqi and Zhang, Shuai and Weng, Hongming , title =. Quantum Frontiers , volume =. 2023 , type =. doi:10.1007/s44214-023-00029-x , url =
-
[43]
The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters , volume =
Liu, Liang and Liu, Weikang and Cheng, Bin and Cui, Bin and Hu, Jifan , title =. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters , volume =. 2023 , type =. doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c03383 , url =
-
[44]
Consequences of time-reversal-symmetry breaking in the light-matter interaction: Berry curvature, quantum metric, and diabatic motion , author =. Phys. Rev. Res. , volume =. 2020 , month =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.033100 , url =
-
[45]
Jungwirth, T. and Marti, X. and Wadley, P. and Wunderlich, J. , title =. Nature Nanotechnology , volume =. 2016 , type =. doi:10.1038/nnano.2016.18 , url =
-
[46]
Resistive Anomalies at Magnetic Critical Points , author =. Phys. Rev. Lett. , volume =. 1968 , month =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.20.665 , url =
-
[47]
Wiedenmann, A. and Rossat-Mignod, J. and Louisy, A. and Brec, R. and Rouxel, J. , title =. Solid State Communications , volume =. 1981 , type =. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-1098(81)90253-2 , url =
-
[48]
Ni, Zhuoliang and Haglund, A. V. and Wang, H. and Xu, B. and Bernhard, C. and Mandrus, D. G. and Qian, X. and Mele, E. J. and Kane, C. L. and Wu, Liang , title =. Nature Nanotechnology , volume =. 2021 , type =. doi:10.1038/s41565-021-00885-5 , url =
-
[49]
arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.06010 , year=
Magnetic field control of continuous N 'eel vector rotation and N 'eel temperature in a van der Waals antiferromagnet , author=. arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.06010 , year=
-
[50]
The European Physical Journal B-Condensed Matter and Complex Systems , volume =
Sa, Debanand and Valenti, R and Gros, C , title =. The European Physical Journal B-Condensed Matter and Complex Systems , volume =. 2000 , type =
work page 2000
-
[51]
Brec, R. and Schleich, D. M. and Ouvrard, G. and Louisy, A. and Rouxel, J. , title =. Inorganic Chemistry , volume =. 1979 , type =. doi:10.1021/ic50197a018 , url =
-
[52]
Nature Communications , volume =
Braun, Lukas and Mussler, Gregor and Hruban, Andrzej and Konczykowski, Marcin and Schumann, Thomas and Wolf, Martin and Münzenberg, Markus and Perfetti, Luca and Kampfrath, Tobias , title =. Nature Communications , volume =. 2016 , type =. doi:10.1038/ncomms13259 , url =
-
[53]
Glass, A. M. and von der Linde, D. and Negran, T. J. , title =. Applied Physics Letters , volume =. 1974 , type =. doi:10.1063/1.1655453 , url =
-
[54]
and Adomavičius, Ramūnas and Krotkus, Arūnas , title =
Malevich, Vitalij L. and Adomavičius, Ramūnas and Krotkus, Arūnas , title =. Comptes Rendus Physique , volume =. 2008 , type =. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crhy.2007.09.014 , url =
-
[55]
Olbrich, P. and Golub, L. E and Herrmann, T. and Danilov, S. N and Plank, H. and Bel’kov, V. V and Mussler, G. and Weyrich, Ch and Schneider, C. M and Kampmeier, J. and Grützmacher, D. and Plucinski, L. and Eschbach, M. and Ganichev, S. D , title =. Physical Review Letters , volume =. 2014 , type =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.096601 , url =
-
[56]
Riemannian geometry of resonant optical responses , author=. Nature Physics , volume=. 2022 , publisher=
work page 2022
-
[57]
Quantized Integrated Shift Effect in Multigap Topological Phases , author =. Phys. Rev. Lett. , volume =. 2024 , month =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.186601 , url =
-
[58]
The multi-state geometry of shift current and polarization , year =
Avdoshkin, A and Mitscherling, J and Moore, JE , journal=. The multi-state geometry of shift current and polarization , year =
-
[59]
Journal of the Optical Society of America B , volume=
Optical absorption and reflectivity study of the layered MnPSe3 seleniophosphate , author=. Journal of the Optical Society of America B , volume=. 1999 , publisher=
work page 1999
-
[60]
M. I. Aroyo and J. M. Perez-Mato and C. Capillas and E. Kroumova and S. Ivantchev and G. Madariaga and A. Kirov and H. Wondratschek , title =. Zeitschrift f. 2006 , doi =
work page 2006
-
[61]
Schneider, Arno and Neis, Max and Stillhart, Marcel and Ruiz, Blanca and Khan, Rizwan U. A. and Günter, Peter , title =. Journal of the Optical Society of America B , volume =. 2006 , type =. doi:10.1364/JOSAB.23.001822 , url =
-
[62]
Casalbuoni, S. and Schlarb, H. and Schmidt, B. and Schmüser, P. and Steffen, B. and Winter, A. , title =. Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators and Beams , volume =. 2008 , type =. doi:10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.11.072802 , url =
-
[63]
Côté, D and Sipe, JE and van Driel, HM , title =. JOSA B , volume =. 2003 , type =
work page 2003
-
[64]
Applied Physics Express , volume=
Spatial polarization variation in terahertz electromagnetic wave focused by off-axis parabolic mirror , author=. Applied Physics Express , volume=. 2016 , publisher=
work page 2016
-
[65]
Journal of physics and chemistry of solids , volume=
A thermodynamic theory of “weak” ferromagnetism of antiferromagnetics , author=. Journal of physics and chemistry of solids , volume=. 1958 , publisher=
work page 1958
-
[66]
Anisotropic superexchange interaction and weak ferromagnetism , author=. Physical review , volume=. 1960 , publisher=
work page 1960
-
[67]
Crystallography online: Bilbao crystallographic server , author=. Bulg. Chem. Commun , volume=
-
[68]
Nature communications , volume=
Giant topological longitudinal circular photo-galvanic effect in the chiral multifold semimetal CoSi , author=. Nature communications , volume=. 2021 , publisher=
work page 2021
-
[69]
Tunable THz pulse generation by optical rectification of ultrashort laser pulses with tilted pulse fronts , author=. Applied Physics B , volume=. 2004 , publisher=
work page 2004
-
[70]
Valley contrasting bulk photovoltaic effect in a PT-symmetric MnP Se 3 monolayer , author=. Physical Review B , volume=. 2023 , publisher=
work page 2023
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.