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Revisiting the symmetry and optical phonons of altermagnetic α-MnTe

Ece Uykur1,*, Marcos V. Gonçalves-Faria1,2, Sahana Rößler3, Victoria A. Ginga3, Marcus Schmidt4, Stephan Winnerl1, Manfred Helm1,2, and Alexander A. Tsirlin3,†

  • *Contact author: e.uykur@hzdr.de
  • †Contact author: altsirlin@gmail.com
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Phys. Rev. B 113, 224107 – Published 12 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/5hjw-f341

Abstract

Using infrared and Raman spectroscopies combined with high-resolution x-ray diffraction, we address several controversial aspects of altermagnetic α-MnTe. We show that mechanical stress applied to crystals of this material causes a drastic broadening of Bragg peaks that conceals signatures of additional phases present in the sample. Indeed, spatially resolved Raman spectroscopy reveals that the modes around 175cm−1 often reported in α-MnTe are not reproducible across different positions and samples and originate from the secondary phase of MnTe2. By combining spectroscopic probes with ab initio calculations, we establish the IR-active optical phonon of α-MnTe around 155cm−1 (E1u) and the Raman-active optical phonon around 100cm−1 (E2g) at room temperature. Two intense Raman modes around 120 and 140cm−1 are shown to be intrinsic, even though they can not be assigned to Γ-point optical phonons. These modes couple to magnetic order in α-MnTe and also to the transient reflectivity, resulting in coherent oscillations. Both sixfold rotation symmetry and inversion symmetry are preserved in bulk α-MnTe within our experimental resolution.

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Phys. Rev. B 113, 224107– Published 12 June, 2026
  • Received 13 March 2026
  • Revised 21 May 2026
  • Accepted 22 May 2026
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