Piezomagnetism in a model cubic noncollinear altermagnet
Abstract
Altermagnets constitute a distinct class of magnetic materials that combine compensated magnetic order with spin-polarized electronic bands, hence carrying characteristics of both antiferromagnets and ferromagnets. Piezomagnetism - the linear relationship between lattice strain and a net magnetic moment - has emerged as smoking-gun evidence of altermagnetism that distinguishes it from antiferromagnetism. Here, we uncover a large piezomagnetic response in MnTe2, a cubic altermagnet with a noncollinear spin arrangement and weak spin-orbit coupling. We combine dilatometry with nuclear magnetic resonance, a bulk local probe, to observe signatures of both direct and inverse piezomagnetism consistent with symmetry considerations and first-principles calculations. The dilatometry measurements reveal a shear deformation proportional to an applied magnetic field, while magnetic resonance detects a ferromagnetic moment induced by shear strain. The respective results for the piezomagnetic coupling strength are in good agreement, and they are captured by first-principles results. These findings for simple binary MnTe2 position this material as a model altermagnet, demonstrate the utility of nuclear magnetic resonance in investigations of piezomagnetism, and open new avenues for multimodal strain and magnetic-field control in spintronic and memory applications.
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{sharma2026piezomagnetism,
title = {{Piezomagnetism in a model cubic noncollinear altermagnet}},
author = {Sudarshan Sharma and Luca Buiarelli and Richard Spieker and Ivan Jakovac and Damjan Pelc and Turan Birol and Martin Greven},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.11816},
eprint = {2609.11816},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11816},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Piezomagnetism in a model cubic noncollinear altermagnet
AU - Sudarshan Sharma
AU - Luca Buiarelli
AU - Richard Spieker
AU - Ivan Jakovac
AU - Damjan Pelc
AU - Turan Birol
AU - Martin Greven
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/10
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.11816
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11816
AB - Altermagnets constitute a distinct class of magnetic materials that combine compensated magnetic order with spin-polarized electronic bands, hence carrying characteristics of both antiferromagnets and ferromagnets. Piezomagnetism - the linear relationship between lattice strain and a net magnetic moment - has emerged as smoking-gun evidence of altermagnetism that distinguishes it from antiferromagnetism. Here, we uncover a large piezomagnetic response in MnTe2, a cubic altermagnet with a noncollinear spin arrangement and weak spin-orbit coupling. We combine dilatometry with nuclear magnetic resonance, a bulk local probe, to observe signatures of both direct and inverse piezomagnetism consistent with symmetry considerations and first-principles calculations. The dilatometry measurements reveal a shear deformation proportional to an applied magnetic field, while magnetic resonance detects a ferromagnetic moment induced by shear strain. The respective results for the piezomagnetic coupling strength are in good agreement, and they are captured by first-principles results. These findings for simple binary MnTe2 position this material as a model altermagnet, demonstrate the utility of nuclear magnetic resonance in investigations of piezomagnetism, and open new avenues for multimodal strain and magnetic-field control in spintronic and memory applications.
ER -