Discerning ground state and photoemission-induced spin textures in altermagnetic $\alpha$-MnTe
The recently discovered class of altermagnets provide a physical realization of an unconventional compensated magnetic phase with a higher partial-wave type of ordering, reminiscent of unconventional superfluid phases. Their stability under normal conditions has sparked significant research interest, spanning fields from spintronics to topological and correlated quantum materials. Spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (SARPES) has great promise to resolve the momentum-dependent spin textures, which are intricately interweaved with the altermagnetic direct space spin order. Using the relativistic $d$-wave-like collinear spin polarization on one of the non-relativistic nodal surfaces of the altermagnetic band structure of $\alpha$-MnTe as an example, we here identify and resolve the challenges associated with (S)ARPES studies on altermagnets. We focus particularly on the role of photoemission-induced electron polarization and the coupling between light and the N\'eel vector of a magnetic domain. Our findings reveal an atypical behaviour of photoemission selection rules while using linearly-polarized light. Our methods allow to distinguish polarization of photoelectrons originating from the sample's ground state spin texture, on one hand, and from the photoemission process, on the other hand. Our experimental results are supported by a combination of ab initio band-structure and 1-step photoemission calculations.