Giant spontaneous Kerr effect reveals the defect origin of macroscopic time-reversal symmetry breaking in altermagnetic MnTe
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866910160840032256 |
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| author | Yang, Weitung Won, Choongjae Cress, Cory Franklin, Marshall Zachary Fang, Xiaochen Fields, Shelby Combs, Nicholas Han, Shaofeng Lu, Weihang Bennett, Steven P. Cheong, Sang-Wook Xia, Jing |
| author_facet | Yang, Weitung Won, Choongjae Cress, Cory Franklin, Marshall Zachary Fang, Xiaochen Fields, Shelby Combs, Nicholas Han, Shaofeng Lu, Weihang Bennett, Steven P. Cheong, Sang-Wook Xia, Jing |
| contents | Altermagnetism, a recently identified third class of collinear magnetism with spin-split bands and vanishing net magnetization, has emerged in hexagonal \alphaMnTe{} and is regarded as a promising platform for ultrafast, stray-field-free spintronics and for optical readout of spin order at telecommunication wavelengths. Whether the macroscopic symmetry-breaking signatures reported in MnTe, a spontaneous Hall effect and a tiny ``gossamer'' remanent moment, reflect the ideal altermagnetic order or are activated by defects remains an open question. Here we report giant spontaneous Kerr rotations of up to $\pm 1500\microrad$ in \alphaMnTe{} single crystals at the telecommunication wavelength of $1550\,\mathrm{nm}$, onsetting precisely at the Néel temperature $\TN = 307\,\mathrm{K}$. In contrast, a stoichiometric insulating \alphaMnTe{} thin film shows no detectable signal. The bulk--film contrast identifies carrier self-doping, rather than the ideal altermagnetic order, as the source of macroscopic magneto-optical response, establishing telecom-wavelength Kerr imaging as a practical readout for altermagnetic spintronics. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_21021 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Giant spontaneous Kerr effect reveals the defect origin of macroscopic time-reversal symmetry breaking in altermagnetic MnTe Yang, Weitung Won, Choongjae Cress, Cory Franklin, Marshall Zachary Fang, Xiaochen Fields, Shelby Combs, Nicholas Han, Shaofeng Lu, Weihang Bennett, Steven P. Cheong, Sang-Wook Xia, Jing Strongly Correlated Electrons Materials Science Optics Altermagnetism, a recently identified third class of collinear magnetism with spin-split bands and vanishing net magnetization, has emerged in hexagonal \alphaMnTe{} and is regarded as a promising platform for ultrafast, stray-field-free spintronics and for optical readout of spin order at telecommunication wavelengths. Whether the macroscopic symmetry-breaking signatures reported in MnTe, a spontaneous Hall effect and a tiny ``gossamer'' remanent moment, reflect the ideal altermagnetic order or are activated by defects remains an open question. Here we report giant spontaneous Kerr rotations of up to $\pm 1500\microrad$ in \alphaMnTe{} single crystals at the telecommunication wavelength of $1550\,\mathrm{nm}$, onsetting precisely at the Néel temperature $\TN = 307\,\mathrm{K}$. In contrast, a stoichiometric insulating \alphaMnTe{} thin film shows no detectable signal. The bulk--film contrast identifies carrier self-doping, rather than the ideal altermagnetic order, as the source of macroscopic magneto-optical response, establishing telecom-wavelength Kerr imaging as a practical readout for altermagnetic spintronics. |
| title | Giant spontaneous Kerr effect reveals the defect origin of macroscopic time-reversal symmetry breaking in altermagnetic MnTe |
| topic | Strongly Correlated Electrons Materials Science Optics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.21021 |