Altermagnetic spin textures: Emergent electrodynamics, quantum geometry, and probes

arXiv:2602.20236 · cond-mat.mes-hall, cond-mat.mtrl-sci · Submitted 2026-02-23 · Read on arXiv

cond-mat.mes-hall, cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Submitted: 2026-02-23

Updated: 2026-02-23

Journal ref: Science Advances 12, eaeh1411 (2026)

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aeh1411

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: Emergent electrodynamics arising from spatially and temporally varying magnetic textures provides a framework for spin control in quantum materials.

Terminology

Abstract

Emergent electrodynamics arising from spatially and temporally varying magnetic textures provides a framework for spin control in quantum materials. While this principle is established for ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic textures, its consequences for altermagnets -- magnetic orders with vanishing net magnetization but finite spin splitting -- remain largely unexplored. In this work, we develop an effective low-energy theory of itinerant electrons coupled to smoothly varying altermagnetic spin textures. In the adiabatic regime, we show that altermagnetic textures generate additional emergent electromagnetic fields and quantum-geometric effects that are absent in conventional magnetic systems. These effects include emergent Zeeman fields that encode the structure of the altermagnetic order parameter, enabling local spin manipulation and a way to distinguish different altermagnetic orders. Moreover, we demonstrate a quantum-metric-induced, spin-dependent electron lensing effect that provides a mechanism for spin filtering, and discuss the local admixture of effective odd-parity magnetic components. Our results suggest that textured altermagnets could serve as a versatile resource for spintronics functionalities and a probe of altermagnetism.

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