# Unlocking Doping Effects on Altermagnetism in MnTe: Emergence of Quasi-altermagnetism

## TL;DR

This study investigates how defects via doping influence altermagnetism in MnTe, revealing the emergence of quasi-altermagnetism and tunable anomalous Hall conductivity, thus broadening the scope of potential applications.

## Contribution

It demonstrates that doping can induce spin-splitting and finite anomalous Hall conductivity in MnTe, expanding the class of quasi-altermagnetic materials.

## Key findings

- Doping introduces spin-split bands in MnTe.
- Pristine MnTe lacks anomalous Hall conductivity.
- Doping enables finite and tunable anomalous Hall conductivity.

## Abstract

Governed by specific symmetries, altermagnetism is an emerging field in condensed matter physics, characterized by unique spin-splitting of the bands in the momentum space co-existing with the compensated magnetization as in antiferromagnets. As crystals can have tailored and unintended defects, it is important to gain insights on how altermagnets are affected by the defects-driven symmetry-breaking which, in turn, can build promising perspectives on potential applications. In this study, considering the widely investigated MnTe as a prototype altermagnet, defects are introduced through substitutional doping to create a large configuration space of spin space groups. With the aid of density functional theory calculations, symmetry analysis, and model studies in this configuration space, we demonstrate the generic presence of spin-split of the antiferromagnetic bands in the momentum space. This is indicative of a wider class of quasi-altermagnetic materials, augmenting the set of ideal altermagnetic systems. Furthermore, we show that while pristine MnTe does not show anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) with out-of-plane magnetization, suitable doping can be carried out to obtain finite and varied AHC. Our predictions of quasi-altermagnetism and doping-driven tailored AHC have the potential to open up as-yet-unexplored directions in this developing field.