Altermagnetic surface states: towards the observation and utilization of altermagnetism in thin films, interfaces and topological materials

Abstract

The altermagnetism influences the electronic states allowing the presence of non-relativistic spinsplittings. Since altermagnetic spin-splitting is present along specific k-paths of the 3D Brillouin zone, we expect that the altermagnetic surface states will be present on specific surface orientations. We unveil the properties of the altermagnetic surface states considering three representative space groups: tetragonal, orthorhombic and hexagonal. We calculate the 2D projected Brillouin zone from the 3D Brillouin zone. We study the surfaces with their respective 2D Brillouin zones establishing where the spin-splittings with opposite sign merge annihilating the altermagnetic properties and on which surfaces the altermagnetism is preserved. Looking at the three principal surface orientations, we find that for several cases two surfaces are blind to the altermagnetism, while the altermagnetism survives for one surface orientation. Which surface preserves the altermagnetism depends also on the magnetic order. We show that an electric field orthogonal to the blind surface can activate the altermagnetism. Our results predict which surfaces to cleave in order to preserve altermagnetism in surfaces or interfaces and this paves the way to observe non-relativistic altermagnetic spin-splitting in thin films via spin-resolved ARPES and to interface the altermagnetism with other collective modes. We open future perspectives for the study of altermagnetic effects on the trivial and topological surface states.

8 pages, 10 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Emergent Phenomena Induced by Spin-Orbit Coupling at Surfaces and Interfaces
• Interplay between altermagnetism and nonsymmorphic symmetries generating large anomalous Hall conductivity by semi-Dirac points induced anticrossings
• Orbital-selective altermagnetism and correlation-enhanced spin-splitting in transition metal oxides
• Orbital order and ferromagnetism in LaMnO3 doped with Ga

Cited by in corpus (19)

• Absence of altermagnetic spin splitting character in rutile oxide RuO${}_2$
• Anisotropy of the anomalous Hall effect in the altermagnet candidate Mn${}_5$Si${}_3$ films
• Wurtzite vs rock-salt MnSe epitaxy: electronic and altermagnetic properties
• Staggered Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya inducing weak ferromagnetism in centrosymmetric altermagnets and weak ferrimagnetism in noncentrosymmetric altermagnets
• Altermagnetism from interaction-driven itinerant magnetism
• Stoichiometry-induced ferromagnetism in altermagnetic candidate MnTe
• Nonlinear Superconducting Magnetoelectric Effect
• Altermagnetic variants in thin films of Mn5Si3
• Pushing an Altermagnet to the Ultimate 2D Limit: Evidence of Symmetry Breaking in Monolayers of GdAlSi
• Altermagnetism in Two Dimensional Ca${}_2$RuO${}_4$ Perovskite
• Symmetry-breaking induced surface magnetization in non-magnetic RuO${}_2$
• Conditions for orbital selective altermagnetism in Sr${}_2$RuO${}_4$: tight binding model, similarities with cuprates and implications on superconductivity
• Relativistic Spin-momentum locking in altermagnets
• Emerging new phases in correlated Mott insulator Ca2RuO4
• Altermagnetism, ARPES, symmetry, non-relativistic band splitting
• Dirac edge states as signature of two-dimensional altermagnetic topological crystalline phase
• Ab-initio study of the beta Fe2O3 phase
• Relativistic spin-momentum locking in ferromagnets
• Altermagnetism from the viewpoint of chemistry