Their magnetically ordered state consists of an antiparallel plan of tiny magnetic moments, so-called spins, as in antiferromagnets.In contrast to antiferromagnetism, nevertheless, the altermagnetic state with no net-magnetization enables the generation of electrical currents with spin polarization, as required in spin-based electronics. Hence, altermagnets integrate the advantages of antiferromagnets, i.e., ultrafast dynamics, and ferromagnets, i.e., large spin polarization.The crystal structure of altermagnetic CrSb: the colored bubbles around the Cr atoms (blue) correspond to iso-spin density surfaces. Credit: Libor Šmejkal and Anna Birk Hellenes/ JGUBreakthrough in Altermagnetic ResearchIn partnership with a theoretical group led by Professor Jairo Sinova and Dr. Libor Šmejkal, experimental physicist Dr. Sonka Reimers and her colleagues in Professor Mathias Kläuis laboratory at the Institute of Physics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have shown altermagnetic electronic band splitting associated with spin polarization in CrSb.
