Reversible fully spin polarization in strain-engineered two-dimensional fully compensated magnets

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how uniaxial strain can induce reversible, fully spin-polarized states in 2D fully compensated magnets, opening new avenues for spintronic devices.

Contribution

It introduces a universal symmetry-driven framework for strain-controlled reversible spin polarization in 2D magnetic systems, validated by theoretical and first-principles methods.

Findings

Strain removes symmetry constraints, inducing fully spin-polarized ferrimagnetic states.

Orthogonal strain directions produce degenerate states with opposite spin polarization.

The mechanism applies to candidate materials like Mn₂SeO and V₂SO.

Abstract

Achieving controllable spin polarization and its reversal in symmetry-compensated magnets. Here we demonstrate, using symmetry analysis and a minimal tight-binding model, that uniaxial strain removes these constraints by inducing inequivalence between magnetic sublattices in two-dimensional (2D) system, driving an altermagnetic (AM) state into a fully compensated ferrimagnetic (fFIM) state and enabling fully spin polarization. Furthermore, strain along orthogonal directions gives rise to two energetically degenerate fFIM states with opposite spin polarization, enabling reversible spin switching. More importantly, the two symmetry-related fFIM states can be regarded as distinct ferroelastic variants, suggesting that this model or mechanism can be extended to ferroelastic fFIM systems. The generality of this mechanism is confirmed by combining spin-group analysis, first-principles calculations, and Boltzmann transport theory in representative candidates, including AM Mn$_2$SeO and ferroelastic fFIM V$_2$SO. Our results reveal a universal symmetry-driven framework for strain-controlled and -reversible fully spin-polarized transport and identify strain-engineered AM and ferroelastic fFIM systems as a promising platform for volatile and nonvolatile spintronic applications.