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  • Open Access

Orbital magnetization reveals multiband topology

Chun Wang Chau1,*, Robert-Jan Slager1,2,†, and Wojciech J. Jankowski1,3,‡

  • *Contact author: cwc61@cam.ac.uk
  • †Contact author: robert-jan.slager@manchester.ac.uk
  • ‡Contact author: wjj25@cam.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. B 113, 235154 – Published 26 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/kmb6-pygd

Abstract

We demonstrate that nontrivial multiband topological invariants of electronic wave functions can be revealed through orbital magnetization responses to external magnetic fields. We find that decomposing orbital magnetization into energetic and quantum-geometric contributions allows one to deduce nontrivial multiband topology, provided knowledge of the energy spectrum. We showcase our findings in general effective models with multiband Euler topology. We moreover identify such multiband topological invariants in effective models of strontium ruthenate (Sr2RuO4), which may in principle be verified in the state-of-the-art doping-dependent magnetization measurements. Our reconstruction scheme for multiband invariants sheds a topological perspective on the multiorbital effects in materials realizing unconventional phenomenologies of orbital currents or multiband superconductivity.

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Phys. Rev. B 113, 235154– Published 26 June, 2026
  • Received 26 January 2026
  • Revised 20 May 2026
  • Accepted 4 June 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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