Control of the Electronic and Atomic Structure of the Altermagnetic α-MnTe Surface via Substrate-Induced Surfactants
Abstract
Altermagnets are a novel class of materials with unique momentum dependent spin-polarization of the electronic band structure, which opens up new avenues for spintronic devices. Altermagnetic α-MnTe is particularly interesting for such applications due to its giant spin splitting and the persistence of altermagnetic order up to room temperature. Growth of thin films is, however, challenging and governed by interactions with the substrate. As a result, the surface of α-MnTe thin films exhibits very different atomic structures in dependence of the substrate material. Whereas on SrF2(111) an atomically clean, perfectly (2x2) reconstructed surface forms, on InP(111)A the MnTe surface is always InTe terminated due to super-segregation of In from the substrate to the surface. Most strikingly, the InTe surfactant layer displays a quasi-periodic dislocation network to accommodate the InTe/MnTe lattice mismatch. This leads to the emergence of distinct surface states in dependence of surface termination that strongly affect the electronic band structure at the surface as shown by angle resolved photoemission and tunneling spectroscopy. Thus, control and characterization of the atomic structure of the surface is fundamentally important for understanding the properties of altermagnets and provides room for engineering and tailoring of spin-polarized states in actual devices.
Related
- Electronic-Structure Control of Nuclear Excitation by Electron Capture in Finite-Density 229Th
- Valley- and Spin-Dependent Electronic and Transport Properties of Two-Dimensional Altermagnetic Titanium-Based Chalcogenide Halides
- Altermagnetic Control of Charge-4e Superconductivity
- Ballistic transport and crystallographic control in altermagnetic quantum rings
- Magnetic Field Control of the Néel Vector and Magnon Visibility in Altermagnetic MnTe
BibTeX
@misc{heinrich2026control,
title = {{Control of the Electronic and Atomic Structure of the Altermagnetic α-MnTe Surface via Substrate-Induced Surfactants}},
author = {Martin Heinrich and Mahdi Hajlaoui and Takuya Takashiro and Tetiana Zakusylo and Petr Babor and Ondrej Caha and Dawid Wutke and Natalia Olszowska and Gunther Springholz and Matthias Muntwiler},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.35236},
eprint = {2610.35236},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.35236},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Control of the Electronic and Atomic Structure of the Altermagnetic α-MnTe Surface via Substrate-Induced Surfactants
AU - Martin Heinrich
AU - Mahdi Hajlaoui
AU - Takuya Takashiro
AU - Tetiana Zakusylo
AU - Petr Babor
AU - Ondrej Caha
AU - Dawid Wutke
AU - Natalia Olszowska
AU - Gunther Springholz
AU - Matthias Muntwiler
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/26
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.35236
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.35236
AB - Altermagnets are a novel class of materials with unique momentum dependent spin-polarization of the electronic band structure, which opens up new avenues for spintronic devices. Altermagnetic α-MnTe is particularly interesting for such applications due to its giant spin splitting and the persistence of altermagnetic order up to room temperature. Growth of thin films is, however, challenging and governed by interactions with the substrate. As a result, the surface of α-MnTe thin films exhibits very different atomic structures in dependence of the substrate material. Whereas on SrF2(111) an atomically clean, perfectly (2x2) reconstructed surface forms, on InP(111)A the MnTe surface is always InTe terminated due to super-segregation of In from the substrate to the surface. Most strikingly, the InTe surfactant layer displays a quasi-periodic dislocation network to accommodate the InTe/MnTe lattice mismatch. This leads to the emergence of distinct surface states in dependence of surface termination that strongly affect the electronic band structure at the surface as shown by angle resolved photoemission and tunneling spectroscopy. Thus, control and characterization of the atomic structure of the surface is fundamentally important for understanding the properties of altermagnets and provides room for engineering and tailoring of spin-polarized states in actual devices.
ER -