Phonon rotoelectric effect

Abstract: In crystals with time-reversal symmetry but without inversion symmetry, the phonon angular momentum can be generated by the temperature gradient, and it is called phonon thermal Edelstein effect. On the other hand, when both symmetries are broken and their product is conserved, the phonon angular momentum for any phonon modes at any wave vectors vanishes, and the phonon thermal Edelstein effect does not occur. In this paper, we propose another mechanism of generation of the phonon angular momentum. We show that in such crystals the electric field generates the phonon angular momentum, via the lattice distortion due to the electric field. This effect is in the same symmetry class with the magnetoelectric effect, and we call this effect phonon rotoelectric effect. We discuss the temperature dependence of the phonon angular momentum generated by the temperature gradient and by the electric field in the high- and the low-temperature limits.