Anisotropic spin splitting in α-MnTe epilayers on InP(111)A and Si(111) substrates
Abstract
α-MnTe has emerged as a prototypical altermagnetic material, combining compensated antiferromagnetic order with momentum-dependent spin splitting. Here, we investigate the structural and electronic properties of epitaxial α-MnTe layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on InP(111)A and Si(111) substrates. The crystalline and surface quality of the epilayers was characterised by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), confirming the formation of high-quality, single-phase films. The transport measurements were performed, confirming an antiferromagnetic transition and weak ferromagnetism. The electronic structure was studied using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). At 90 K, both samples exhibit relativistic anisotropic valence band splitting, which is substantially larger along the Γ-K direction, reaching approximately 300 meV, than along Γ-M, where values of about 150~meV are observed. The magnitude and momentum dependence of the splitting are very similar for α-MnTe grown on the two different substrates, indicating the robustness of the altermagnetic electronic structure with respect to the epitaxial environment.
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BibTeX
@misc{kopaczmaj2026anisotropic,
title = {{Anisotropic spin splitting in $α$-MnTe epilayers on InP(111)A and Si(111) substrates}},
author = {Zofia Kopacz-Maj and Ali Akbar and Aleksandr Kazakov and Bartłomiej Turowski and Wojciech Zaleszczyk and Marta Aleszkiewicz and Tomasz Wojciechowski and Rafał Kurleto and Dawid Wutke and Natalia Olszowska and Tomasz Wojtowicz and Valentine V. Volobuev},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.40850},
eprint = {2610.40850},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.40850},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Anisotropic spin splitting in α-MnTe epilayers on InP(111)A and Si(111) substrates
AU - Zofia Kopacz-Maj
AU - Ali Akbar
AU - Aleksandr Kazakov
AU - Bartłomiej Turowski
AU - Wojciech Zaleszczyk
AU - Marta Aleszkiewicz
AU - Tomasz Wojciechowski
AU - Rafał Kurleto
AU - Dawid Wutke
AU - Natalia Olszowska
AU - Tomasz Wojtowicz
AU - Valentine V. Volobuev
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.40850
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.40850
AB - α-MnTe has emerged as a prototypical altermagnetic material, combining compensated antiferromagnetic order with momentum-dependent spin splitting. Here, we investigate the structural and electronic properties of epitaxial α-MnTe layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on InP(111)A and Si(111) substrates. The crystalline and surface quality of the epilayers was characterised by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), confirming the formation of high-quality, single-phase films. The transport measurements were performed, confirming an antiferromagnetic transition and weak ferromagnetism. The electronic structure was studied using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). At 90 K, both samples exhibit relativistic anisotropic valence band splitting, which is substantially larger along the Γ-K direction, reaching approximately 300 meV, than along Γ-M, where values of about 150~meV are observed. The magnitude and momentum dependence of the splitting are very similar for α-MnTe grown on the two different substrates, indicating the robustness of the altermagnetic electronic structure with respect to the epitaxial environment.
ER -