Yuan Lin-Ding, Georgescu Alexandru B, Rondinelli James M
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, <a href="https://ror.org/000e0be47">Northwestern University</a>, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
Department of Chemistry, 800 East Kirkwood Avenue, <a href="https://ror.org/01kg8sb98">Indiana University</a>, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2024 Nov 22;133(21):216701. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.216701.
The nonrelativistic spin-splitting (NRSS) of electronic bands in "altermagnets" has sparked renewed interest in antiferromagnets (AFMs) that have no net magnetization. However, altermagnets with collinear and compensated magnetism are not the only type of NRSS AFMs. In this Letter, we identify the symmetry conditions and characteristic signatures of a distinct group of NRSS AFMs that go beyond the description of altermagnets. These compounds exhibit a broken spin degeneracy among the spin-polarized bands at the Γ point in the absence of spin-orbit coupling. We use density functional theory calculations to validate these models in ternary magnetic nitrides, specifically MnXN_{2} (X=Si, Ge, Sn), and their cation ordered variants. By removing the previous spin degenerate constraint at Γ, these compounds may facilitate the generation of spin currents without cancellation arising from the alternating spin polarizations. Our findings expand the scope of NRSS eligible materials.
“交替磁体”中电子能带的非相对论自旋分裂(NRSS)引发了人们对无净磁化的反铁磁体(AFM)的新兴趣。然而,具有共线和补偿磁性的交替磁体并非NRSS反铁磁体的唯一类型。在本信函中,我们确定了一类独特的NRSS反铁磁体的对称条件和特征信号,这类反铁磁体超出了交替磁体的描述范围。在没有自旋轨道耦合的情况下,这些化合物在Γ点的自旋极化能带之间表现出自旋简并的破缺。我们使用密度泛函理论计算来验证三元磁性氮化物(特别是MnXN₂,其中X = Si、Ge、Sn)及其阳离子有序变体中的这些模型。通过消除先前在Γ点的自旋简并约束,这些化合物可能有助于产生自旋电流,而不会因交替自旋极化而产生抵消。我们的发现扩展了符合NRSS条件的材料范围。