The absence of inversion symmetry in chiral tellurium (Te) creates unique spin textures within its electron waves. However, understanding textured optical waves within Te remains a challenge due to the semiclassical limitations of the long-wavelength approximation. To unveil deep microscopic optical eigenwaves in Te, we develop a spin-resolved deep-microscopic optical band structure, analogous to its electronic counterpart. We demonstrate that the degeneracies in this optical band structure are lifted by the twisted lattice of Te, which induces optical gyrotropy. Our theory shows excellent agreement with experimental optical gyrotropy measurements. At the lattice level, we reveal that the chirality of Te manifests as deep-microscopic spin texture within the bulk optical eigenwaves. Our framework uncovers the finite-momentum origin of optical activity and provides a microscopic basis to quantify light-matter interactions in chiral crystalline materials.

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• Electronic structure
• Optical conductivity
• Crystalline systems
• Single crystal materials
• Chiral symmetry
• Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy