Observation of Altermagnetic Order Switching in Bulk MnTe by Polarized Neutron Diffraction
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866910242426585088 |
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| author | Liu, Zheyuan Asai, Shinichiro Takahashi, Shingo Saito, Hiraku Nakajima, Taro Masuda, Takatsugu |
| author_facet | Liu, Zheyuan Asai, Shinichiro Takahashi, Shingo Saito, Hiraku Nakajima, Taro Masuda, Takatsugu |
| contents | Altermagnetic order, characterized by the Néel vector, breaks time-reversal symmetry (TRS) even in the nonrelativistic limit. Although spin-polarized and anomalous transport phenomena emerge with this order, they are mutually compensated by TRS-connected antiphase domains with opposite Néel vectors. Here we employ polarized neutron diffraction to directly probe the altermagnetic order in MnTe. Pronounced nuclear-magnetic interference terms were observed, providing direct evidence of a net Néel vector in the bulk crystal. Moreover, a weak ferromagnetic moment (WFM), originating from relativistic spin-orbit coupling, was found to be coupled with the altermagnetic order. Both the altermagnetic order and the WFM can be switched by milli-Tesla-scale magnetic field cooling. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_21616 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Observation of Altermagnetic Order Switching in Bulk MnTe by Polarized Neutron Diffraction Liu, Zheyuan Asai, Shinichiro Takahashi, Shingo Saito, Hiraku Nakajima, Taro Masuda, Takatsugu Strongly Correlated Electrons Altermagnetic order, characterized by the Néel vector, breaks time-reversal symmetry (TRS) even in the nonrelativistic limit. Although spin-polarized and anomalous transport phenomena emerge with this order, they are mutually compensated by TRS-connected antiphase domains with opposite Néel vectors. Here we employ polarized neutron diffraction to directly probe the altermagnetic order in MnTe. Pronounced nuclear-magnetic interference terms were observed, providing direct evidence of a net Néel vector in the bulk crystal. Moreover, a weak ferromagnetic moment (WFM), originating from relativistic spin-orbit coupling, was found to be coupled with the altermagnetic order. Both the altermagnetic order and the WFM can be switched by milli-Tesla-scale magnetic field cooling. |
| title | Observation of Altermagnetic Order Switching in Bulk MnTe by Polarized Neutron Diffraction |
| topic | Strongly Correlated Electrons |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.21616 |