Observation of a spontaneous anomalous Hall response in the Mn5Si3 d-wave altermagnet candidate

Reichlova, Helena; Lopes Seeger, Rafael; González-Hernández, Rafael; Kounta, Ismaila; Schlitz, Richard; Kriegner, Dominik; Ritzinger, Philipp; Lammel, Michaela; Leiviskä, Miina; Birk Hellenes, Anna; Olejník, Kamil; Petřiček, Vaclav; Doležal, Petr; Horak, Lukas; Schmoranzerova, Eva; Badura, Antonín; Bertaina, Sylvain; Thomas, Andy; Baltz, Vincent; Michez, Lisa; Sinova, Jairo; Goennenwein, Sebastian T. B.; Jungwirth, Tomáš; Šmejkal, Libor

Abstract

Phases with spontaneous time-reversal (T ) symmetry breaking are sought after for their anomalous physical properties, low-dissipation electronic and spin responses, and information-technology applications. Recently predicted altermagnetic phase features an unconventional and attractive combination of a strong T -symmetry breaking in the electronic structure and a zero or only weak-relativistic magnetization. In this work, we experimentally observe the anomalous Hall effect, a prominent representative of the T -symmetry breaking responses, in the absence of an external magnetic field in epitaxial thin-film Mn5Si3 with a vanishingly small net magnetic moment. By symmetry analysis and first-principles calculations we demonstrate that the unconventional d-wave altermagnetic phase is consistent with the experimental structural and magnetic characterization of the Mn5Si3 epilayers, and that the theoretical anomalous Hall conductivity generated by the phase is sizable, in agreement with experiment. An analogy with unconventional d-wave superconductivity suggests that our identification of a candidate of unconventional d-wave altermagnetism points towards a new chapter of research and applications of magnetic phases.

Citation

Reichlova, H., Lopes Seeger, R., González-Hernández, R., Kounta, I., Schlitz, R., Kriegner, D., Ritzinger, P., Lammel, M., Leiviskä, M., Birk Hellenes, A., Olejník, K., Petřiček, V., Doležal, P., Horak, L., Schmoranzerova, E., Badura, A., Bertaina, S., Thomas, A., Baltz, V., Michez, L., …Šmejkal, L. (2024). Observation of a spontaneous anomalous Hall response in the Mn5Si3 d-wave altermagnet candidate. Nature Communications, 15, Article 4961. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48493-w

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 2, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Jun 11, 2024
• Publication Date: Jun 11, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jul 16, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 16, 2024
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Article Number: 4961
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48493-w
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/36016475
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-48493-w