Magnetochiral dichroism resonant with electromagnons in a helimagnet

Cross-coupling between magnetism and electricity in a solid can be hosted by multiferroics with both magnetic and ferroelectric orders. In multiferroics, the collective spin excitations active for both electric and magnetic fields, termed electromagnons, play a crucial role in the elementary process of magnetoelectric (ME) coupling. Here we report the colossal dynamical (optical) ME effect, or more specifically the magnetochiral (MCh) effect, in the electromagnon resonance for the screw spin helimagnet CuFe 1− x Ga x O 2 ( x =0.035). The MCh effect shows up as the nonreciprocal directional dichroism; the extinction coefficient is different for counter-propagating lights, as large as by 400%. The MCh effect derived from the screw spin order is proved by control of the magnetic helicity of helimagnetism and its magnetization. The results point to the general presence of the MCh effect in helimagnets, paving a way to the ME control of electromagnetic wave in the giga- to tera-hertz region. Electromagnons are collective electric and magnetic excitations of electron spins. Here, the authors discover a strong magnetochiral dichroism in a magnet with helical spin order, where light at the electromagnon resonance is absorbed differently depending on its polarization and propagation direction.