altermagnetism
Sign in to savethumb|An example of an altermagnetic ordering, with the direction of the spins and the spatial orientation of the atoms alternating on the neighbouring sites in the crystal. In condensed matter physics, altermagnetism is a type of persistent magnetic state in ideal crystals. Altermagnetic structures are collinear and crystal-symmetry compensated, resulting in zero net magnetisation. Unlike in an ordinary collinear antiferromagnet, another magnetic state with zero net magnetization, the electronic bands in an altermagnet are not Kramers degenerate, but instead depend on the wavevector in a spin
Article
6 sectionsContents
- Crystal structure and symmetry
- Electronic structure
- Materials
- Properties
- Experimental observations
- References
thumb|An example of an altermagnetic ordering, with the direction of the spins and the spatial orientation of the atoms alternating on the neighbouring sites in the crystal. In condensed matter physics, altermagnetism is a type of persistent magnetic state in ideal crystals. Altermagnetic structures are collinear and crystal-symmetry compensated, resulting in zero net magnetisation. Unlike in an ordinary collinear antiferromagnet, another magnetic state with zero net magnetization, the electronic bands in an altermagnet are not Kramers degenerate, but instead depend on the wavevector in a spin-dependent way due to the intrinsic crystal symmetry connecting different magnetic sublattices. Related to this feature, key experimental observations were published in 2024. It has been speculated that altermagnetism may have applications in the field of spintronics.
== Crystal structure and symmetry == In altermagnetic materials, atoms form a regular pattern with alternating spin and spatial orientation at adjacent magnetic sites in the crystal.