Saturated and Anisotropic Magnetostriction in an Altermagnet

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Abstract
Magnetostriction, a fundamental phenomenon bridging magnetism and mechanics, has enabled a broad spectrum of applications. For almost two centuries, it has been mainly investigated for ferromagnets. Regarding the magnetostriction of antiferromagnets (AFMs), limitedly known examples for both conventional collinear AFMs and noncollinear AFMs predominantly exhibit nonsaturating magnetic-field dependence. Herein, we report an easily saturated magnetostriction effect in a prototypical altermagnet─MnTe, which is an emerging class of collinear AFMs with special crystal symmetries. For high-quality MnTe single crystals, the magnetostriction saturates under a moderate field of ∼0.7 T with an intriguing 2-fold-symmetry anisotropy. First-principles calculations reveal that the saturated and anisotropic magnetostriction originates from symmetry-allowed coupling between elastic strain and its Néel order parameter. These findings break the traditional wisdom on antiferromagnetic magnetostriction.
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Funding Information
  • National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFA1602700)
  • National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFA1406300)
  • National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFA1406400)
  • National Key Research and Development Program of China (2024YFA1409100)
  • National Key Research and Development Program of China (2024YFA1409500)
  • Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality (JQ23005)
  • Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (12025405)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (12234011)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (12334003)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (12361141826)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (12374053)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (12421004)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (52121001)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (52271235)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (52322212)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (52388201)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (52401300)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (52425106)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (524B2003)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (525B2008)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (U25A20244)
  • Innovation Program for Quantum Science and Technology (2023ZD0300500)

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