Altermagnetism is a newly identified fundamental class of magnetism with vanishing net magnetization and time-reversal symmetry broken electronic structure. Probing the unusual electronic structure with nonrelativistic spin splitting would be a direct experimental verification of an altermagnetic phase. By combining high-quality film growth and in situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we report the electronic structure of an altermagnetic candidate, α−MnTe. Temperature-dependent study reveals the lifting of Kramers degeneracy accompanied by a magnetic phase transition at T_N=267  K with spin splitting of up to 370 meV, providing direct spectroscopic evidence for altermagnetism in MnTe.

 

Authors: Suyoung Lee* (서울대), Sangjae Lee, Saegyeol Jung, Jiwon Jung, Donghan Kim, Yeonjae Lee, Byeongjun Seok, Jaeyoung Kim, Byeong Gyu Park, Libor Šmejkal, Chang-Jong Kang, and Changyoung Kim* (서울대)

 

Publication date: 18 January 2024
https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.036702

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.036702