Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Candelora, Christopher, Xu, Muxian, Cheng, Siyu, De Vita, Alessandro, Romanin, Davide, Bigi, Chiara, Petersen, My Bang, LaFleur, Alexander, Calandra, Matteo, Miwa, Jill, Hwang, Younghun, Wang, Ziqiang, Mazzola, Federico, Zeljkovic, Ilija
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.03716
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866910992828465152
author Candelora, Christopher
Xu, Muxian
Cheng, Siyu
De Vita, Alessandro
Romanin, Davide
Bigi, Chiara
Petersen, My Bang
LaFleur, Alexander
Calandra, Matteo
Miwa, Jill
Hwang, Younghun
Wang, Ziqiang
Mazzola, Federico
Zeljkovic, Ilija
author_facet Candelora, Christopher
Xu, Muxian
Cheng, Siyu
De Vita, Alessandro
Romanin, Davide
Bigi, Chiara
Petersen, My Bang
LaFleur, Alexander
Calandra, Matteo
Miwa, Jill
Hwang, Younghun
Wang, Ziqiang
Mazzola, Federico
Zeljkovic, Ilija
contents Altermagnets recently came into the spotlight as a new class of magnetic materials, arising as a consequence of specific crystal symmetries. They are characterized by a spin-polarized electronic band structure similar to ferromagnets, but with net zero magnetization, and touted as a promising platform to host a slew of exotic properties, many of which are yet to be explored. Here we study a new layered triangular lattice altermagnet, Co-intercalated NbSe$_2$ using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/S). Differential conductance dI/dV spectra at low temperature reveal a surprising partial gap opening centered at the Fermi level, which is not captured by density functional theory calculations of the system in the pure altermagnetic state. Spatial mapping using spectroscopic-imaging STM and spin-polarized STM further reveals emergent tri-directional charge and spin density modulations with a 2a$_0$ wave length. Interestingly, we discover that out-of-plane magnetic field can serve as a knob to tune the amplitudes of the modulations as well as alter the overall electronic density-of-states in a manner that is strongly dependent on the field direction and strength. This can be attributed to the tilting of spins by the external magnetic field, which can have profound implications on the electronic properties of the altermagnet. By providing elusive atomic-scale insights, our work uncovers a tunable density wave accompanied by concomitant changes in the electronic band structure, and sets the foundation for studies of correlated electronic phenomena in altermagnets.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_03716
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Discovery of magnetic-field-tunable density waves in a layered altermagnet
Candelora, Christopher
Xu, Muxian
Cheng, Siyu
De Vita, Alessandro
Romanin, Davide
Bigi, Chiara
Petersen, My Bang
LaFleur, Alexander
Calandra, Matteo
Miwa, Jill
Hwang, Younghun
Wang, Ziqiang
Mazzola, Federico
Zeljkovic, Ilija
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Materials Science
Altermagnets recently came into the spotlight as a new class of magnetic materials, arising as a consequence of specific crystal symmetries. They are characterized by a spin-polarized electronic band structure similar to ferromagnets, but with net zero magnetization, and touted as a promising platform to host a slew of exotic properties, many of which are yet to be explored. Here we study a new layered triangular lattice altermagnet, Co-intercalated NbSe$_2$ using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/S). Differential conductance dI/dV spectra at low temperature reveal a surprising partial gap opening centered at the Fermi level, which is not captured by density functional theory calculations of the system in the pure altermagnetic state. Spatial mapping using spectroscopic-imaging STM and spin-polarized STM further reveals emergent tri-directional charge and spin density modulations with a 2a$_0$ wave length. Interestingly, we discover that out-of-plane magnetic field can serve as a knob to tune the amplitudes of the modulations as well as alter the overall electronic density-of-states in a manner that is strongly dependent on the field direction and strength. This can be attributed to the tilting of spins by the external magnetic field, which can have profound implications on the electronic properties of the altermagnet. By providing elusive atomic-scale insights, our work uncovers a tunable density wave accompanied by concomitant changes in the electronic band structure, and sets the foundation for studies of correlated electronic phenomena in altermagnets.
title Discovery of magnetic-field-tunable density waves in a layered altermagnet
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.03716