Atomic-Scale Observation of 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_ | 1866914614162227200 |
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| author | Ren, Guodong DeStefano, Jonathan M. Zhang, Xiao-Wei Thind, Arashdeep S. Giridharagopal, Rajiv Castellanos-Reyes, Jose Angel Zeiger, Paul M. Kamm, Noah Xu, Sijie Liu, Zhaoyu Xie, Yaofeng Krizek, Filip Michalicka, Jan Campion, Richard Dai, Pengcheng Wadley, Peter Ginger, David S. Jungwirth, Tomas Klie, Robert F. Rusz, Jan Xiao, Di Chu, Jiun-Haw Idrobo, Juan Carlos |
| author_facet | Ren, Guodong DeStefano, Jonathan M. Zhang, Xiao-Wei Thind, Arashdeep S. Giridharagopal, Rajiv Castellanos-Reyes, Jose Angel Zeiger, Paul M. Kamm, Noah Xu, Sijie Liu, Zhaoyu Xie, Yaofeng Krizek, Filip Michalicka, Jan Campion, Richard Dai, Pengcheng Wadley, Peter Ginger, David S. Jungwirth, Tomas Klie, Robert F. Rusz, Jan Xiao, Di Chu, Jiun-Haw Idrobo, Juan Carlos |
| contents | The recent discovery of altermagnetism has sparked growing interest in compensated magnetic systems as promising platforms for highly scalable spintronics. Altermagnetism is a distinct magnetic order where opposite spin sublattices are connected by rotation, yielding zero net magnetization but momentum-dependent spin splitting. To date, experimental verification of altermagnetic order has been achieved predominantly through bulk-sensitive techniques, including spin-dependent electronic spectra and transport responses. However, direct atomic-scale evidence that explicitly correlates crystal symmetry, local structural distortions, and magnetic ordering has remained unexplored. Here, we report the direct atomic-scale observation of coexisting polar distortions and altermagnetic order in MnTe, combining atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) imaging with electron magnetic chiral dichroism (EMCD) measurements. We reveal that MnTe is not an ideal uniform P63/mmc g-wave altermagnet at the atomic scale. Instead, it hosts ubiquitous inversion-symmetry-breaking distortions that lower the spin-space-group (SSG) symmetry, admits d-wave altermagnetic components, and in lower-symmetry regimes, even allow s-wave spin splitting (net magnetization). The coexistence of ferroelectric signatures and altermagnetic order establishes local lattice symmetry in MnTe as a control knob for altermagnetic spin splitting, spin current generation, and multiferroic memory applications. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_27543 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Atomic-Scale Observation of Symmetry Breaking in Altermagnetic MnTe Ren, Guodong DeStefano, Jonathan M. Zhang, Xiao-Wei Thind, Arashdeep S. Giridharagopal, Rajiv Castellanos-Reyes, Jose Angel Zeiger, Paul M. Kamm, Noah Xu, Sijie Liu, Zhaoyu Xie, Yaofeng Krizek, Filip Michalicka, Jan Campion, Richard Dai, Pengcheng Wadley, Peter Ginger, David S. Jungwirth, Tomas Klie, Robert F. Rusz, Jan Xiao, Di Chu, Jiun-Haw Idrobo, Juan Carlos Materials Science The recent discovery of altermagnetism has sparked growing interest in compensated magnetic systems as promising platforms for highly scalable spintronics. Altermagnetism is a distinct magnetic order where opposite spin sublattices are connected by rotation, yielding zero net magnetization but momentum-dependent spin splitting. To date, experimental verification of altermagnetic order has been achieved predominantly through bulk-sensitive techniques, including spin-dependent electronic spectra and transport responses. However, direct atomic-scale evidence that explicitly correlates crystal symmetry, local structural distortions, and magnetic ordering has remained unexplored. Here, we report the direct atomic-scale observation of coexisting polar distortions and altermagnetic order in MnTe, combining atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) imaging with electron magnetic chiral dichroism (EMCD) measurements. We reveal that MnTe is not an ideal uniform P63/mmc g-wave altermagnet at the atomic scale. Instead, it hosts ubiquitous inversion-symmetry-breaking distortions that lower the spin-space-group (SSG) symmetry, admits d-wave altermagnetic components, and in lower-symmetry regimes, even allow s-wave spin splitting (net magnetization). The coexistence of ferroelectric signatures and altermagnetic order establishes local lattice symmetry in MnTe as a control knob for altermagnetic spin splitting, spin current generation, and multiferroic memory applications. |
| title | Atomic-Scale Observation of Symmetry Breaking in Altermagnetic MnTe |
| topic | Materials Science |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.27543 |