Revealing the Altermagnetism in Hematite via XMCD Imaging and Anomalous Hall Electrical Transport
Abstract
AbstractAltermagnets are a class of magnetic materials that exhibit unconventional transport properties, such as an anomalous Hall effect (AHE), despite having compensated sublattice magnetic moments. In this study, fundamental experimental evidence of the altermagnetic nature of hematite (α‐Fe2O3), is reported combining electrical transport with advanced X‐ray photoemission electron microscopy (XPEEM) imaging with linear and circular dichroism contrast. These measurements directly visualize the Néel vector's coupling to the crystal orientation, confirming hematite's altermagnetic order and its symmetry‐driven transport behavior. The transport measurements reveal an anisotropic AHE with a pronounced crystal orientation dependence, including a sign inversion for specific Néel vector alignments. Supported by first‐principles theoretical calculations, how the interplay between collinear spin and crystal symmetry breaking drives the observed AHE is explained. These findings establish hematite as an altermagnet, paving the way for experimental identification of altermagnetic materials and their integration into spintronic technologies.
Article Details
Authors (19)
Edgar Galindez‐Ruales
Institute of Physics Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Staudingerweg 7 55128 Mainz Germany
Rafael Gonzalez‐Hernandez
Grupo de Investigación en Física Aplicada, Departamento de Física Universidad del Norte Barranquilla 080003 Colombia
Christin Schmitt
Institute of Physics, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
Shubhankar Das
Institute of Physics Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Staudingerweg 7 55128 Mainz Germany
Felix Fuhrmann
Institute of Physics Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Staudingerweg 7 55128 Mainz Germany
Andrew Ross
Evangelos Golias
MAX IV Laboratory Fotongatan 8 22484 Lund Sweeden
Akashdeep Akashdeep
Institute of Physics, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz 1 , 55128 Mainz,
Laura Lünenbürger
Institute of Physics Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Staudingerweg 7 55128 Mainz Germany
Eunchong Baek
Institute of Physics Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Staudingerweg 7 55128 Mainz Germany
Wanting Yang
Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Libor Šmejkal
Venkata Krishna
Institute of Physics Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Staudingerweg 7 55128 Mainz Germany
Rodrigo Jaeschke‐Ubiergo
Institute of Physics Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Staudingerweg 7 55128 Mainz Germany
Jairo Sinova
Avner Rothschild
Department of Materials Science and Engineering Technion‐Israel Institute of Technology Haifa 32000 Israel
Chun‐Yeol You
Department of Physics and Chemistry DGIST Daegu 42988 Republic of Korea
Gerhard Jakob
Institute of Physics, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
Mathias Kläui
Institute of Physics, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.