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Electrical injection and control of vector spin flow in altermagnets

Yanmeng Lei1, Rui-Chun Xiao2,3, Weiwei Lin4, and Tao Yu1,*

  • *Contact author: taoyuphy@hust.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 043122 – Published 2 November, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/4mcl-jtty

Abstract

Altermagnets host chirally split magnons that promise unique functionalities for information processing. However, their distinctive transport signatures, crucial for experimental identification and manipulation, remain elusive. Here, we predict that a spin accumulation electrically injects a “vector” or multidirectional magnon spin current into an altermagnet, comprising both longitudinal and sizable transverse components. Notably, this transverse current exhibits a sign reversal away from the source and can be switched on or off by reorienting the Néel vector. While such a transverse current is found to be not forbidden even in conventional antiferromagnets, we demonstrate through quantum-kinetic calculations that, in altermagnets, the transverse response is enhanced by two orders of magnitude due to broken parity-time-translation (PTτ) symmetry. This giant enhancement provides a decisive transport fingerprint for detecting magnon spin splitting and Néel-vector orientation, offering a clear criterion to experimentally distinguish nonrelativistic spin splitting from relativistic anisotropy effects.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 043122– Published 2 November, 2026
  • Received 2 May 2026
  • Revised 9 September 2026
  • Accepted 21 October 2026
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