Instability in magnetic materials with dynamical axion field

Hirosi Ooguri, Masaki Oshikawa

Published 2011-12-06, updated 2012-03-06Version 2

It has been pointed out that the axion electrodynamics exhibits instability in the presence of a background electric field. We show that the instability leads to a complete screening of an applied electric field above a certain critical value and the excess energy is converted into a magnetic field. We clarify the physical origin of the screening effect and discuss its possible experimental realization in magnetic materials where magnetic fluctuations play the role of the dynamical axion field.