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Effect of applied pressure on the nonrelativistic spin splitting of the altermagnet FeSb2: A first-principles study

Shalika R. Bhandari1,2,*, R. Tamang3,*, Keshav Shrestha4,†, Samy Brahimi5,6, Samir Lounis7,‡, and D. P. Rai3,6,§

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: kshrestha@wtamu.edu
  • ‡Contact author: samir.lounis@physik.uni-halle.de
  • §Contact author: dibyaprakashrai@gmail.com
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Phys. Rev. B 114, 055119 – Published 15 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/ddf5-krnh

Abstract

We have investigated the pressure-dependent electronic structure, phonon stability, and anomalous Hall response of the recently discovered altermagnet FeSb2 from density functional theory (DFT) and Wannier function analysis. From density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) calculations, we have found that FeSb2 remains dynamically stable up to 10 GPa, evidenced by positive phonon frequencies. Our spin-polarized band structure reveals that the crossing nodes between the spin-up and spin-down bands near the Fermi energy occur precisely at the Γ and Z high-symmetry points. The Fermi crossing is mostly exhibited by band-24, band-25, and band-26. The nonrelativistic spin-splitting (NRSS) along M′- Γ -M and A-Z-A′ high symmetry paths is attributed to the symmetry operation [C2||C2yt] and broken time-reversal symmetry (T). Significant changes in the band structure are observed under applied pressure, as evidenced by the shift of the crossing node between bands 24 and 26 toward higher energies. The NRSS exhibited by band-24 along M′−Γ -M symmetry is notably small. Although the strength of NRSS associated with band-26 along the A-Z-A′ path is substantial, it decreases under applied pressure. We have calculated and presented the anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) over the energy range from −1.5 to 1.5 eV. The pronounced positive AHC peak at ambient pressure becomes spectrally broadened, and changes sign at 10 GPa as a result of pressure-induced modifications to the band structure and the associated redistribution of Berry curvature near the Fermi level. Furthermore, we quantify the orbital magnetization within the modern theory framework, which reaches a magnitude of 0.29 μB at zero pressure. Our results identify FeSb2 as a tunable altermagnetic candidate, where applied pressure can modulate both topological transport and dynamical stability, opening new avenues for strain-engineered Hall responses in compensated magnetic systems.

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Phys. Rev. B 114, 055119– Published 15 July, 2026
  • Received 24 August 2025
  • Revised 23 June 2026
  • Accepted 24 June 2026
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