Observation of acoustic magneto-chiral anisotropy in $\alpha$-quartz

Abstract

We report the experimental observation of magneto-chiral anisotropy in the longitudinal and transverse ultrasound propagation in $\alpha$-quartz. To perform such measurement, we have built an ultrasound spectrometer with unprecedented experimental resolution of the order of $\Delta v/v \sim 10^{-8}$. We present a simple macroscopic Becquerel-like analytical model that accounts for the magnitude of the observed effect and its frequency dependence.