Spin-dependent reflection of very low energy electrons from the surfaces of antiferromagnetic NiO and altermagnetic MnTe is studied within a Bloch-waves scattering theory. Significant spin polarization is observed both at normal and at off-normal incidence comparable to that in reflection from ferromagnetic Fe(100). This establishes electron diffraction as a useful tool to study compensated magnets and widens the range of materials promising as spin detectors. The spin filtering effect is shown to be due to the multiple scattering in the bulk of the crystal as it decreases with increasing the surface sensitivity of scattering. Opposite time-reversal parity of the bulk signal from antiferro- and altermagnets is revealed. However, the reflection spin asymmetry does not necessarily imply spin splitting and cannot be used to distinguish between antiferro- and altermagnets.

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• Electronic structure
• Magnetism
• Altermagnets
• Antiferromagnets
• First-principles calculations
• Low-energy electron diffraction