Anisotropic spin-polarized conductivity in collinear altermagnets

TL;DR

This paper investigates the anisotropic spin-polarized conductivity in collinear altermagnets, revealing how spin polarization varies with direction and identifying conditions for significant polarization, advancing spintronics applications.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical and computational analysis of anisotropic spin-polarized conductivity in altermagnets, including analytical expressions and group-theoretical classification.

Findings

Spin polarization vanishes along certain directions in g- and i-wave altermagnets.

Significant anisotropic spin polarization occurs in d-wave altermagnets.

Density functional theory calculations confirm theoretical predictions.

Abstract

The altermagnet exhibits the nonrelativistic spin splitting that enables all-electrical generation of spin-polarized currents beyond the spin-orbit coupling. Here, we report on a study on the anisotropic spin-polarized conductivity in collinear altermagnets. Based on the Boltzmann transport theory, we first study this effect using the general group-theoretical analysis and identify the spin point groups sustaining the finite spin polarization defined in terms of spin-polarized conductivity. We show that the spin polarization vanishes along any direction for the $g$-wave and $i$-wave altermagnets while the spin polarization is significantly anisotropic for the $d$-wave altermagnet. We further derive the analytical expressions for the anisotropic spin polarization in the $d$-wave altermagnets. Then, we exemplify those phenomena in several representative altermagnets based on the density functional theory calculations. Our work enriches the altermagnetic spintronics and paves the practical way to produce large spin polarization in collinear altermagnets.