Phonons and Topology in Chiral Systems

Structural chirality plays an important role in determining various physical properties of materials and their potential functionalities. However, little consideration has been given to chirality-driven lattice and thermal properties. Here, the role of chirality in describing non-trivial topological vibrational properties of materials will be discussed. A comparison of the vibrational properties of materials with and without structural chirality will be developed and will be supported by corresponding inelastic neutron scattering measurements. The non-trivial topological features will be illustrated with the help of Wannier charge centers and non-zero Chern numbers.