Magnetic Field Control of the Néel Vector and Magnon Visibility in Altermagnetic MnTe
Abstract
Altermagnetic order gives rise to momentum-dependent spin splitting of electronic and magnonic excitations even in the absence of a net magnetization. Here, we investigate the magnetic field dependence of the spin-wave spectrum of altermagnetic α-MnTe using inelastic neutron scattering and linear spin-wave theory. An in-plane magnetic field continuously reorients the Néel vector by overcoming the weak crystalline anisotropy, while remaining small compared with the dominant exchange scale. We find that this reorientation leaves the magnon energies and line widths essentially unchanged, but strongly modifies the measured spectral intensity through the transverse-momentum projection. Our results demonstrate a clear separation between the soft orientational degree of freedom of the antiferromagnetic order and the robust exchange-dominated chiral magnon spectrum. This combination establishes α-MnTe as a platform for reconfigurable magnon coupling, in which external fields tune how excitations interact with polarized probes without substantially altering their frequency or coherence.
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BibTeX
@misc{weber2026magnetic,
title = {{Magnetic Field Control of the Néel Vector and Magnon Visibility in Altermagnetic MnTe}},
author = {Tobias Weber and Niclas Heinsdorf and Shane Smolenski and Sawyer Beltz and Alexandre Ivanov and Andrea Piovano and Victor Mecoli and Sean Knapp and Ruiqi Tang and Amir Henderson and A. K. M. Ashiquzzaman Shawon and Taylor Pierce-James and Na Hyun Jo and Denis Karaiskaj},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2607.08829},
eprint = {2607.08829},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.08829},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Magnetic Field Control of the Néel Vector and Magnon Visibility in Altermagnetic MnTe
AU - Tobias Weber
AU - Niclas Heinsdorf
AU - Shane Smolenski
AU - Sawyer Beltz
AU - Alexandre Ivanov
AU - Andrea Piovano
AU - Victor Mecoli
AU - Sean Knapp
AU - Ruiqi Tang
AU - Amir Henderson
AU - A. K. M. Ashiquzzaman Shawon
AU - Taylor Pierce-James
AU - Na Hyun Jo
AU - Denis Karaiskaj
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/27
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2607.08829
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.08829
AB - Altermagnetic order gives rise to momentum-dependent spin splitting of electronic and magnonic excitations even in the absence of a net magnetization. Here, we investigate the magnetic field dependence of the spin-wave spectrum of altermagnetic α-MnTe using inelastic neutron scattering and linear spin-wave theory. An in-plane magnetic field continuously reorients the Néel vector by overcoming the weak crystalline anisotropy, while remaining small compared with the dominant exchange scale. We find that this reorientation leaves the magnon energies and line widths essentially unchanged, but strongly modifies the measured spectral intensity through the transverse-momentum projection. Our results demonstrate a clear separation between the soft orientational degree of freedom of the antiferromagnetic order and the robust exchange-dominated chiral magnon spectrum. This combination establishes α-MnTe as a platform for reconfigurable magnon coupling, in which external fields tune how excitations interact with polarized probes without substantially altering their frequency or coherence.
ER -