IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v15y2024i1d10.1038_s41467-024-46476-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Direct observation of altermagnetic band splitting in CrSb thin films

Author

Listed:
  • Sonka Reimers

    (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)

  • Lukas Odenbreit

    (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)

  • Libor Šmejkal

    (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
    Inst. of Physics Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic)

  • Vladimir N. Strocov

    (Paul Scherrer Institut)

  • Procopios Constantinou

    (Paul Scherrer Institut)

  • Anna B. Hellenes

    (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)

  • Rodrigo Jaeschke Ubiergo

    (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)

  • Warlley H. Campos

    (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)

  • Venkata K. Bharadwaj

    (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)

  • Atasi Chakraborty

    (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)

  • Thibaud Denneulin

    (Forschungszentrum Jülich)

  • Wen Shi

    (Forschungszentrum Jülich)

  • Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski

    (Forschungszentrum Jülich)

  • Suvadip Das

    (George Mason University
    George Mason University)

  • Mathias Kläui

    (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
    Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU)

  • Jairo Sinova

    (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
    Texas A&M University)

  • Martin Jourdan

    (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)

Abstract

Altermagnetism represents an emergent collinear magnetic phase with compensated order and an unconventional alternating even-parity wave spin order in the non-relativistic band structure. We investigate directly this unconventional band splitting near the Fermi energy through spin-integrated soft X-ray angular resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The experimentally obtained angle-dependent photoemission intensity, acquired from epitaxial thin films of the predicted altermagnet CrSb, demonstrates robust agreement with the corresponding band structure calculations. In particular, we observe the distinctive splitting of an electronic band on a low-symmetry path in the Brilliouin zone that connects two points featuring symmetry-induced degeneracy. The measured large magnitude of the spin splitting of approximately 0.6 eV and the position of the band just below the Fermi energy underscores the significance of altermagnets for spintronics based on robust broken time reversal symmetry responses arising from exchange energy scales, akin to ferromagnets, while remaining insensitive to external magnetic fields and possessing THz dynamics, akin to antiferromagnets.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonka Reimers & Lukas Odenbreit & Libor Šmejkal & Vladimir N. Strocov & Procopios Constantinou & Anna B. Hellenes & Rodrigo Jaeschke Ubiergo & Warlley H. Campos & Venkata K. Bharadwaj & Atasi Chakrabo, 2024. "Direct observation of altermagnetic band splitting in CrSb thin films," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-46476-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46476-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-46476-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-024-46476-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ding-Fu Shao & Shu-Hui Zhang & Ming Li & Chang-Beom Eom & Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, 2021. "Spin-neutral currents for spintronics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. J. Krempaský & L. Šmejkal & S. W. D’Souza & M. Hajlaoui & G. Springholz & K. Uhlířová & F. Alarab & P. C. Constantinou & V. Strocov & D. Usanov & W. R. Pudelko & R. González-Hernández & A. Birk Hellen, 2024. "Altermagnetic lifting of Kramers spin degeneracy," Nature, Nature, vol. 626(7999), pages 517-522, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Helena Reichlova & Rafael Lopes Seeger & Rafael González-Hernández & Ismaila Kounta & Richard Schlitz & Dominik Kriegner & Philipp Ritzinger & Michaela Lammel & Miina Leiviskä & Anna Birk Hellenes & K, 2024. "Observation of a spontaneous anomalous Hall response in the Mn5Si3 d-wave altermagnet candidate," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Rafael González-Hernández & Philipp Ritzinger & Karel Výborný & Jakub Železný & Aurélien Manchon, 2024. "Non-relativistic torque and Edelstein effect in non-collinear magnets," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Song-Bo Zhang & Lun-Hui Hu & Titus Neupert, 2024. "Finite-momentum Cooper pairing in proximitized altermagnets," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-46476-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.