Interplay between Relativistic Spin-Momentum Locking and Breaking of Inversion Symmetry: conditions for p-wave magnetism

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Fakhredine, Amar, Cuono, Giuseppe, Skolimowski, Jan, Picozzi, Silvia, Autieri, Carmine
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866911691460050944
author Fakhredine, Amar
Cuono, Giuseppe
Skolimowski, Jan
Picozzi, Silvia
Autieri, Carmine
author_facet Fakhredine, Amar
Cuono, Giuseppe
Skolimowski, Jan
Picozzi, Silvia
Autieri, Carmine
contents We investigate the interplay between relativistic spin-momentum locking arising from altermagnetism and various forms of inversion symmetry breaking. Depending on the symmetry breaking, this can give rise to Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling (SOC), Weyl-type SOC, or the coexistence of two distinct spin-momentum lockings. We focus on the altermagnetic Ca2RuO4 as a testbed material. Our results reproduce the experimentally observed ground state, which is an A-centered magnetic order with the Neel vector along the b-axis, hosting spin cantings along the a- and c-axes but without weak ferromagnetism. Ca2RuO4 exhibits relativistic spin-momentum locking, with different even-parity wave orders for the three spin components. We interpret the experimental results on doped samples as evidence for a transition from a pure altermagnetic phase to a weak ferromagnetic phase. Under ferroelectric- and antiferroelectric-like distortions, there are no qualitative changes in the non-relativistic spin-momentum locking and in the weak ferromagnetism. However, we observe the rise of the Rashba or Weyl-type SOC. Using numerical and analytical models, we investigate which nodal planes persist when inversion symmetry is broken in the relativistic case. The spin-momentum locking of the other components adopt a p-wave character in the case of Rashba; in contrast, Weyl-type SOC disrupts all nodal planes, leaving only nodal lines. Finally, to simulate a stripe phase with structural distortions along the z-axis, we studied a modulated electric field inducing atomic displacements within one Ca2RuO4 layer. This produces a magnetic phase transition to an exotic altermagnetic state with two non-relativistic spin-momentum lockings hosting weak ferromagnetism. Our research presents a comprehensive analysis of various possible scenarios in altermagnets with breaking of inversion symmetries under relativistic effects
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_21871
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Interplay between Relativistic Spin-Momentum Locking and Breaking of Inversion Symmetry: conditions for p-wave magnetism
Fakhredine, Amar
Cuono, Giuseppe
Skolimowski, Jan
Picozzi, Silvia
Autieri, Carmine
Materials Science
We investigate the interplay between relativistic spin-momentum locking arising from altermagnetism and various forms of inversion symmetry breaking. Depending on the symmetry breaking, this can give rise to Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling (SOC), Weyl-type SOC, or the coexistence of two distinct spin-momentum lockings. We focus on the altermagnetic Ca2RuO4 as a testbed material. Our results reproduce the experimentally observed ground state, which is an A-centered magnetic order with the Neel vector along the b-axis, hosting spin cantings along the a- and c-axes but without weak ferromagnetism. Ca2RuO4 exhibits relativistic spin-momentum locking, with different even-parity wave orders for the three spin components. We interpret the experimental results on doped samples as evidence for a transition from a pure altermagnetic phase to a weak ferromagnetic phase. Under ferroelectric- and antiferroelectric-like distortions, there are no qualitative changes in the non-relativistic spin-momentum locking and in the weak ferromagnetism. However, we observe the rise of the Rashba or Weyl-type SOC. Using numerical and analytical models, we investigate which nodal planes persist when inversion symmetry is broken in the relativistic case. The spin-momentum locking of the other components adopt a p-wave character in the case of Rashba; in contrast, Weyl-type SOC disrupts all nodal planes, leaving only nodal lines. Finally, to simulate a stripe phase with structural distortions along the z-axis, we studied a modulated electric field inducing atomic displacements within one Ca2RuO4 layer. This produces a magnetic phase transition to an exotic altermagnetic state with two non-relativistic spin-momentum lockings hosting weak ferromagnetism. Our research presents a comprehensive analysis of various possible scenarios in altermagnets with breaking of inversion symmetries under relativistic effects
title Interplay between Relativistic Spin-Momentum Locking and Breaking of Inversion Symmetry: conditions for p-wave magnetism
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.21871