Changing direction: Research team discovers switchable electronic chirality in a Kagome superconductor 

Whether or not crystal structures are mirror symmetric determines how their electrons behave. Researchers at the MPSD, working with an international team, have shown that, surprisingly, the electrons of the Kagome superconductor CsV₃Sb₅ display a chiral behaviour, despite their achiral crystal structure. An emergent electronic order breaks the mirror symmetry – a newly discovered phenomenon – and this order can be switched by magnetic fields. Such a switchable chirality could play an important role for future technologies.