Strain-induced compensated nonaltermagnet and its application to magnetic tunnel junction design
Phys. Rev. Applied 25, 044079 – Published 28 April, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/nvt2-61mc
Abstract
The recent proposal of altermagnetism has drawn widespread attention to antiferromagnets exhibiting spin splitting, extending beyond the realm of sign-alternating spin splitting in momentum space protected solely by rotational symmetry. Herein, we propose a shear-strain strategy that enables significant modulation of a d-wave altermagnet into a compensated nonaltermagnet. A comprehensive analysis combining the magnetic moment compensation characteristics of opposite-spin sublattices with the distribution of spin-resolved conduction channels in momentum space under the (001) crystal orientation reveals that shear strain breaks the rotational symmetry of the altermagnet. To explore the application potential of compensated nonaltermagnet, we designed magnetic tunnel junctions with three crystallographic orientations [(001), (110), (100)] and investigated their transport properties under shear strain. This nonalter electronic structure not only enhances the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) in spin-split paths of intrinsic (226% to 431%) but also enables substantial TMR in spin-degenerate paths (from 0% to 88%). Our work provides guidelines for alternative magnetic materials and device platforms.
