Magnetization symmetry for the altermagnetic candidate MnTe
Phys. Rev. B 111, 224414 – Published 13 June, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/br1r-bjzk
Abstract
We experimentally investigate the magnetization angle dependence for single crys tals of MnTe altermagnetic candidate. In high magnetic fields, experimental curves mostly reflect standard antiferromagnetic spin-flop processes, which are allowed below the Néel vector reorientation field. In low magnetic fields and at low temperatures, spontaneous magnetization appears as a sharp magnetization jump around 81 K. In this regime, dependence is quite unusual: the easy magnetization axis is rotated either by increasing the field above 1 kOe or the temperature above 81 K. The observed behavior cannot be expected for antiferromagnetics, e.g., it differs strongly from the well-known weak ferromagnetism. Thus, it requires to take into account the formation of the altermagnetic ground state for MnTe altermagnetic candidate. Despite MnTe is expected to have -wave order parameter, magnetization symmetry confirms the prevailing population of one from three easy axes, as it has been shown previously by temperature-dependent angle-resolved photo-emission spectroscopy.