X-Ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism in Altermagnetic α-MnTe

Hariki, A.; Dal Din, A.; Amin, O. J.; Yamaguchi, T.; Badura, A.; Kriegner, D.; Edmonds, K. W.; Campion, R. P.; Wadley, P.; Backes, D.; Veiga, L. S. I.; Dhesi, S. S.; Springholz, G.; Šmejkal, L.; Výborný, K.; Jungwirth, T.; Kuneš, J.

Abstract

Altermagnetism is a recently identified magnetic symmetry class combining characteristics of conventional collinear ferromagnets and antiferromagnets, that were regarded as mutually exclusive, and enabling phenomena and functionalities unparalleled in either of the two traditional elementary magnetic classes. In this work we use symmetry, ab initio theory, and experiments to explore x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) in the altermagnetic class. As a representative material for our XMCD study we choose α-MnTe with compensated antiparallel magnetic order in which an anomalous Hall effect has been already demonstrated. We predict and experimentally confirm a characteristic XMCD line shape for compensated moments lying in a plane perpendicular to the light propagation vector. Our results highlight the distinct phenomenology in altermagnets of this time-reversal symmetry breaking response, and its potential utility for element-specific spectroscopy and microscopy.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 20, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Apr 23, 2024
• Publication Date: Apr 26, 2024
• Deposit Date: Apr 30, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 30, 2024
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Print ISSN: 0031-9007
• Electronic ISSN: 1079-7114
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 132
• Issue: 17
• Article Number: 176701
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.132.176701
• Keywords: Spin-orbit coupling; Antiferromagnets; Dynamical mean field theory; X-ray magnetic circular dichroism
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/34112103
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.176701