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. 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. 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. As we shed light on these chiral regimes, our findings pave the way for a deeper understanding of ordering phenomena and unconventional magnetism.