Giant strain-induced spin splitting effect in MnTe, a $g$-wave altermagnetic semiconductor

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteur principal: Belashchenko, K. D.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Belashchenko, K. D.
author_facet Belashchenko, K. D.
contents Hexagonal MnTe is an altermagnetic semiconductor with $g$-wave symmetry of spin polarization in momentum space. In the nonrelativistic limit, this symmetry mandates that electric current flowing in any crystallographic direction is unpolarized. However, it is shown that elastic strain is effective in inducing the spin splitting effect in MnTe. For this analysis, a spin-orbit-coupled $\mathbf{k}\cdot\mathbf{p}$ Hamiltonian for the valence band maximum at the A point is derived and fitted to eigenvalues calculated from first principles. The spin splitting angle is calculated using the Boltzmann approach in the relaxation-time approximation. The spin splitting gauge factor exceeds 20 near the valence band maximum. Thus, with suitable substrate engineering, MnTe can be used as an efficient source and detector of spin current in spintronic devices. Proper inclusion of the Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling is crucial for the correct description of the transport properties of MnTe.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_20440
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Giant strain-induced spin splitting effect in MnTe, a $g$-wave altermagnetic semiconductor
Belashchenko, K. D.
Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Hexagonal MnTe is an altermagnetic semiconductor with $g$-wave symmetry of spin polarization in momentum space. In the nonrelativistic limit, this symmetry mandates that electric current flowing in any crystallographic direction is unpolarized. However, it is shown that elastic strain is effective in inducing the spin splitting effect in MnTe. For this analysis, a spin-orbit-coupled $\mathbf{k}\cdot\mathbf{p}$ Hamiltonian for the valence band maximum at the A point is derived and fitted to eigenvalues calculated from first principles. The spin splitting angle is calculated using the Boltzmann approach in the relaxation-time approximation. The spin splitting gauge factor exceeds 20 near the valence band maximum. Thus, with suitable substrate engineering, MnTe can be used as an efficient source and detector of spin current in spintronic devices. Proper inclusion of the Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling is crucial for the correct description of the transport properties of MnTe.
title Giant strain-induced spin splitting effect in MnTe, a $g$-wave altermagnetic semiconductor
topic Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.20440