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  • Letter
  • Open Access

d-wave surface altermagnetism in centrosymmetric collinear antiferromagnets

Ersoy Şaşıoğlu*, Ingrid Mertig, and Samir Lounis

  • *Contact author: ersoy.sasioglu@physik.uni-halle.de
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Phys. Rev. B 114, L020406 – Published 29 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/mkk5-b53m

Abstract

Broken inversion symmetry at the surfaces of centrosymmetric collinear antiferromagnets lifts the combined inversion and time-reversal symmetry (PT) and can enable nonrelativistic d-wave spin splitting, termed surface altermagnetism. Combining symmetry analysis with first-principles calculations, we show that inversion breaking alone is necessary but not sufficient for this effect. Instead, surface altermagnetism emerges only when no degeneracy-protecting symmetry survives at the surface that exchanges the two antiferromagnetically coupled sublattices. We demonstrate this mechanism for the G-type antiferromagnets V3Al and BaMn2Sb2, and contrast it with MnPt, where the translation–time-reversal symmetry (tT) survives at the surface and preserves spin degeneracy despite broken inversion symmetry. We further show that the mechanism applies across multiple classes of centrosymmetric antiferromagnets and remains robust against spin-orbit coupling, although relativistic spin mixing in heavier-element compounds may reduce the observable spin polarization. These results establish a symmetry-based route toward realizing robust nonrelativistic momentum-dependent spin polarization at antiferromagnetic surfaces and interfaces.

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Phys. Rev. B 114, L020406– Published 29 July, 2026
  • Received 9 February 2026
  • Revised 19 May 2026
  • Accepted 13 July 2026
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