Real-space manifestation of ferroic multipoles in altermagnetic MnF2
Abstract
Altermagnets are unconventional spin split magnets arising from the zero spin-orbit coupled limit. They host a magnetic multipolar order parameter yet direct real-space observation of these multipoles has remained elusive. Here we use polarized-neutron diffraction to reconstruct the three-dimensional magnetization density of the prototypical altermagnet MnF2. By exploiting symmetry-selective magnetic reflections, we separate the dominant spherical Mn2+ contribution from the much weaker anisotropic Mn magnetization and the covalent spin polarization of the fluorine ligands. The reconstructed spin density reveals a finite fluorine ion moment together with an anisotropic Mn magnetization consistent with the symmetry-allowed altermagnetic rank-5 magnetic multipole O52(magnetic triacontadipole). These results provide direct real-space evidence of ferroic multipolar order in an altermagnet and establish polarized-neutron diffraction as a powerful probe of hidden magnetic multipoles in quantum materials.
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BibTeX
@misc{kibalin2026realspace,
title = {{Real-space manifestation of ferroic multipoles in altermagnetic MnF$_2$}},
author = {Iurii Kibalin and Dalila Bounoua and José A. Rodriguez Velamazán and Oscar Fabelo and Navid Qureshi and Quentin Faure and Philippe Bourges and Victor Balédent and Jian-Rui Soh and Jeffrey Rau and Paul McClarty and Arsen Gukasov},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.29089},
eprint = {2608.29089},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.29089},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Real-space manifestation of ferroic multipoles in altermagnetic MnF_2
AU - Iurii Kibalin
AU - Dalila Bounoua
AU - José A. Rodriguez Velamazán
AU - Oscar Fabelo
AU - Navid Qureshi
AU - Quentin Faure
AU - Philippe Bourges
AU - Victor Balédent
AU - Jian-Rui Soh
AU - Jeffrey Rau
AU - Paul McClarty
AU - Arsen Gukasov
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.29089
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.29089
AB - Altermagnets are unconventional spin split magnets arising from the zero spin-orbit coupled limit. They host a magnetic multipolar order parameter yet direct real-space observation of these multipoles has remained elusive. Here we use polarized-neutron diffraction to reconstruct the three-dimensional magnetization density of the prototypical altermagnet MnF_2. By exploiting symmetry-selective magnetic reflections, we separate the dominant spherical Mn^2+ contribution from the much weaker anisotropic Mn magnetization and the covalent spin polarization of the fluorine ligands. The reconstructed spin density reveals a finite fluorine ion moment together with an anisotropic Mn magnetization consistent with the symmetry-allowed altermagnetic rank-5 magnetic multipole O_52(magnetic triacontadipole). These results provide direct real-space evidence of ferroic multipolar order in an altermagnet and establish polarized-neutron diffraction as a powerful probe of hidden magnetic multipoles in quantum materials.
ER -