Twist-Induced Altermagnetism in a Metallic van der Waals Antiferromagnet.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 42290494.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6c01391.
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Abstract
Altermagnetism offers a promising route for next-generation spintronic devices. In two-dimensional (2D) magnets, twist engineering enables its realization by breaking the combined inversion and time-reversal symmetry (<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mi>P</mi></math><i>T</i>). Here, by first-principles calculations and symmetry analysis, we demonstrate that twisting the recently synthesized metallic van der Waals antiferromagnet Co-doped bilayer Fe<sub>3</sub>GaTe<sub>2</sub> (Fe<sub>2</sub>CoGaTe<sub>2</sub>) provides a robust platform for altermagnetism, breaking the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mi>P</mi></math><i>T</i> symmetry between opposite spin sublattices. This results in a nonrelativistic <i>i</i>-wave altermagnetic state with spin splitting up to 138 meV. Without spin-orbit coupling (SOC) the electronic states remain spin-degenerate along six high-symmetry directions, whereas including SOC preserves degeneracy along the three directions protected by 2-fold rotation axes. Furthermore, we unveil the microscopic mechanisms governing the magnetic behavior in twisted bilayer Fe<sub>2</sub>CoGaTe<sub>2</sub>. Our results establish twist engineering and metallic Fe-based van der Waals antiferromagnets as versatile platforms to realize 2D altermagnetism, with potential for designing high-efficiency ultrathin nanodevices.