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arXiv · 2607.28441

Transport Evidence of Magnetic Polarization in the Altermagnetic Candidate MnTe

Younes Ghorbani·Nayana Devaraj·Joshua Maile·Samuel Poage·Qihua Zhang·Maria Hilse·Stephanie Law·Salva Salmani-Rezaie·Awadhesh Narayan·Kaveh Ahadi
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Abstract

The ability to precisely control magnetic properties is central to the development of future spin-based electronics. In this work, we report the successful growth of epitaxial {\alpha}-MnTe thin films on InP(111) substrates using molecular beam epitaxy. Magneto-transport measurements at low temperatures reveal a distinct, hysteretic butterfly longitudinal magnetoresistance alongside a nonlinear transverse magneto-resistance response, suggesting the presence of a finite net magnetic polarization in the films. To understand the origin of this behavior, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed. While pristine bulk MnTe is a compensated antiferromagnet, our computational results suggest multiple pathways through which a finite magnetization can emerge in thin-film geometries, including interface-induced symmetry breaking and point defects. These findings demonstrate an epitaxial route for engineering magnetic responses in thin films.

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Younes Ghorbani, Nayana Devaraj, Joshua Maile, Samuel Poage, Qihua Zhang, Maria Hilse, Stephanie Law, Salva Salmani-Rezaie, Awadhesh Narayan, Kaveh Ahadi. 2026-07-30. Transport Evidence of Magnetic Polarization in the Altermagnetic Candidate MnTe. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.28441

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