Observing Altermagnetism using Polarized Neutrons

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: McClarty, P. A., Gukasov, A., Rau, J. G.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866910649369493504
author McClarty, P. A.
Gukasov, A.
Rau, J. G.
author_facet McClarty, P. A.
Gukasov, A.
Rau, J. G.
contents Altermagnets are colinear compensated magnets whose magnetic symmetries at zero spin-orbit coupling break spin degeneracy leading to spin-split electronic and magnonic bands that reflect an underlying multipolar order. When there is an approximate $U(1)$ symmetry the magnons in altermagnets are split into equal and opposite chiral pairs. We show that in altermagnets polarized neutrons provide a means to detect the population of time-reversed domains and allow direct measurement of the magnon chirality anisotropy in momentum space -- the central signature of the altermagnetic phase. We demonstrate this response to polarized neutrons in two candidate materials MnF$_2$ and MnTe and show that the presence of these chiralities is stable to small perturbations that break spin-rotation symmetry. This provides a magnonic analogue of spin polarized ARPES that has been used to discern altermagnetism in the electronic band structures of various candidate materials.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_10771
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Observing Altermagnetism using Polarized Neutrons
McClarty, P. A.
Gukasov, A.
Rau, J. G.
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Materials Science
Altermagnets are colinear compensated magnets whose magnetic symmetries at zero spin-orbit coupling break spin degeneracy leading to spin-split electronic and magnonic bands that reflect an underlying multipolar order. When there is an approximate $U(1)$ symmetry the magnons in altermagnets are split into equal and opposite chiral pairs. We show that in altermagnets polarized neutrons provide a means to detect the population of time-reversed domains and allow direct measurement of the magnon chirality anisotropy in momentum space -- the central signature of the altermagnetic phase. We demonstrate this response to polarized neutrons in two candidate materials MnF$_2$ and MnTe and show that the presence of these chiralities is stable to small perturbations that break spin-rotation symmetry. This provides a magnonic analogue of spin polarized ARPES that has been used to discern altermagnetism in the electronic band structures of various candidate materials.
title Observing Altermagnetism using Polarized Neutrons
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.10771