Origin of the gossamer ferromagnetism in MnTe

Abstract

Absence of net magnetization in altermagnetis is both a blessing (no stray fields) and a curse (no obvious way to manipulate altermagnetic domains by external fields). Yet, MnTe was demonstrated experimentally to have no measurable stray fields and yet controllable by external magnetic filed - a win-win situation. In this paper we unravel the microscopic mechanism of this property. It appear to emerge from concerted action of three different mechanisms. Microscopic understanding of the beneficial properties of MnTe opens a road to controllable design of similar altermagnets for spintronics applications.