Electrical magnetochiral anisotropy

Abstract

Electrical conductors can be chiral, i.e., can exist in two forms where one is the other's mirror image. Thus far, no effect of chirality on magnetotransport has been observed. We argue that the electrical resistance of any chiral conductor should depend linearly both on the external magnetic field and the current through the conductor and on its handedness. We suggest two mechanisms to carry this effect and show experimentally on model systems that both are effective.