Two-Dimensional Altermagnetism in Epitaxial CrSb Ultrathin Films

TL;DR

This paper reports the first experimental realization of two-dimensional altermagnetism in epitaxial CrSb ultrathin films, demonstrating a thickness-driven transition from ferrimagnetism to altermagnetism with potential applications in nanoscale spintronics.

Contribution

It demonstrates 2D altermagnetism in CrSb films and elucidates the thickness-dependent transition mechanism driven by interfacial symmetry breaking.

Findings

Transition from ferrimagnetic to altermagnetic state at 7/4 unit cell thickness.

Restoration of specific spin-space-group symmetries with increasing thickness.

Observation of zero net magnetization and momentum-dependent spin splitting.

Abstract

Altermagnets constitute an emerging class of collinear magnets that exhibit zero net magnetization yet host spin-split electronic bands arising from non-relativistic spin-space-group symmetries. Realization of altermagnetism in the two-dimensional (2D) limit remains an outstanding challenge because dimensional reduction suppresses kZ dispersion and destabilizes the symmetry operations essential for spin compensation. Here, we demonstrate genuine 2D altermagnetism in epitaxial unit-cell-thin films of CrSb grown on Bi2Te3. It reveals a thickness-driven transition from a ferrimagnetic state in 1-unit-cell films to an altermagnetic state above a critical thickness of 7/4 unit cell. The transition originates from interfacial symmetry breaking at the Cr-terminated layer that induces local moment imbalance. With increasing thickness the key spin-space-group symmetries [C2||C6Zt] and [C2||MZ] restores, which leads to altermagnetism with zero net magnetization and momentum-dependent spin splitting. Our results provide the first experimental realization of altermagnetism in the 2D regime and establish a route for integrating stray-field-free spin order into nanoscale spintronic architectures.