ArXiv · 2026
Spontaneous symmetry breaking underlies functional electronic phenomena in quantum materials. Breaking space-inversion (P) or time-reversal (T) symmetry can generate spin-split electronic bands central to modern spintronics. By contrast, parity-violating antiferromagnetic (AFM) order breaks both P and T while preserving the combined PT symmetry, enabling spin-degenerate yet momentum-asymmetric electronic bands. This momentum asymmetry has been proposed as a microscopic origin of unconventional nonreciprocal and nonlinear responses but its experimental verification has remained challenging because it requires establishing both the symmetry-breaking magnetic order and the associated electronic structure. Here we combine soft x-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and polarization-resolved optical second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy to study LaMnSi, a candidate parity-violating AFM metal. Soft x-ray ARPES resolves the three-dimensional bulk band structures in agreement with density functional theory calculations for the AFM phase, whereas SHG microscopy detects sign-reversing nonlinear optical responses from opposite AFM domains that carry T-odd parity-violating order. Together, these results provide direct evidence for parity-violating AFM state in LaMnSi, establish LaMnSi as a parity-violating AFM metal, and identify this class of AFMs as a promising platform for symmetry-controlled nonreciprocal and nonlinear electronic responses.
Try inveni