Kavli Affiliate: Ke Wang
| First 5 Authors: Qihua Zhang, Qihua Zhang, , ,
| Summary:
Altermagnets are a recently-discovered class of materials with magnetic
ordering that have a zero net magnetization and a momentum-dependent spin
splitting in their band structure, arising from a collinear spin arrangement
with alternating polarizations in the crystal lattice. The nickeline-structured
manganese telluride (alpha-MnTe) is an attractive altermagnet candidate due
to its predicted large spin splitting energy and a transition temperature near
300K. In this work, we present a thorough investigation of the spin structure
of alpha-MnTe thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy with very high
crystal quality and low residual magnetization. The epitaxial alpha-MnTe
films have a full-width-at-half-maximum of 0.1deg as measured by
x-ray-diffraction rocking curves and a root-mean-square roughness below 1 nm.
Neutron diffraction measurements confirm the antiferromagnetic order in the
alpha-MnTe film and show a N’eel temperature of 307 K. Polarized neutron
reflectometry detects a vanishingly small net magnetization which may be
confined to the MnTe/InP interface, highlighting the near-ideal stoichiometry
in the sample. In vacuo angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy reveals that
the bulk band spectrum of the MnTe films is consistent with the weak
altermagnetic order as theoretically predicted and observed for the high
symmetry nodal plane in the center of the Brillouin zone. This study
establishes optimized growth conditions for the synthesis of stoichiometric
alpha-MnTe thin films which exhibit exceptional structural and magnetic
ordering, thereby providing a robust platform for the precise characterization
of their altermagnetic properties.
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