Ferroelastic altermagnetism
Source abstract
Abstract
Combination of altermagnetism and ferroic orders, such as ferroelectric switchable altermagnetism [ Phys. Rev. Lett . 134 , 106801 (2025) and Phys. Rev. Lett . 134 , 106802 (2025)], offers a powerful route to achieve nonvolatile switching of altermagnetic spin splitting. In this work, by synergizing altermagnetism and ferroelasticity, we propose the concept of ferroelastic altermagnets in which the ferroelastic crystal reorientation can drive multistate nonvolatile switching of the altermagnetic spin splitting via altermagnetoelastic effect . Using monolayers RuF 4 and CuF 2 as material candidates, we demonstrate 2-state and 3-state altermagnetic spin splitting switching as driven by ferroelastic strain states. Transport calculation shows that multistate spin conductivities can be ferroelastically encoded in ferroelastic altermagnets, thus suggesting the potential of ferroelastic altermagnets as nonvolatile nanomechanical spin switches. The proposed concept of ferroelastic altermagnetism enriches the emerging landscape of multiferroic altermagnetism and shall pave a way towards straintronic-spintronic device applications.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Multiferroics and related materials · Magnetic properties of thin films · 2D Materials and Applications
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (78)
Show source-provided references
1. González-Hernández, R. et al. Efficient electrical spin splitter based on nonrelativistic collinear antiferromagnetism. Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 127701 (2021).10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.127701 ↗
2. Ma, H. Y. et al. Multifunctional antiferromagnetic materials with giant piezomagnetism and noncollinear spin current. Nat. Commun. 12, 2846 (2021).10.1038/s41467-021-23127-7 ↗
3. Šmejkal, L., Sinova, J. & Jungwirth, T. Beyond conventional ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism: a phase with nonrelativistic spin and crystal rotation symmetry. Phys. Rev. X 12, 031042 (2022).
4. Šmejkal, L., Sinova, J. & Jungwirth, T. Emerging research landscape of altermagnetism. Phys. Rev. X 12, 040501 (2022).
5. Šmejkal, L., MacDonald, A. H., Sinova, J., Nakatsuji, S. & Jungwirth, T. Anomalous Hall antiferromagnets. Nat. Rev. Mater. 7, 482 (2022).10.1038/s41578-022-00430-3 ↗
6. Cui, Q., Zhu, Y., Yao, X., Cui, P. & Yang, H. Giant spin-Hall and tunneling magnetoresistance effects based on a two-dimensional nonrelativistic antiferromagnetic metal. Phys. Rev. B 108, 024410 (2023).10.1103/PhysRevB.108.024410 ↗
7. Cui, Q., Zeng, B., Cui, P., Yu, T. & Yang, H. Efficient spin Seebeck and spin Nernst effects of magnons in altermagnets. Phys. Rev. B 108, L180401 (2023).10.1103/PhysRevB.108.L180401 ↗
8. Chen, X., Wang, D., Li, L. & Sanyal, B. Giant spin-splitting and tunable spin-momentum locked transport in room temperature collinear antiferromagnetic semimetallic CrO monolayer. Appl. Phys. Lett. 123, 022402 (2023).10.1063/5.0147450 ↗
9. He, R. et al. Nonrelativistic spin-momentum coupling in antiferromagnetic twisted bilayers. Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 046401 (2023).10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.046401 ↗
10. Liu, Y., Yu, J. & Liu, C.-C. Twisted magnetic van der Waals bilayers: an ideal platform for altermagnetism. Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 206702 (2024).10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.206702 ↗
11. Jin, H., Tan, Z., Gong, Z. & Wang, J. Anomalous Hall effect in two-dimensional vanadium tetrahalogen with altermagnetic phase. Phys. Rev. B 110, 155125 (2024).10.1103/PhysRevB.110.155125 ↗
12. Milivojević, M., Orozović, M., Picozzi, S., Gmitra, M. & Stavrić, S. Interplay of altermagnetism and weak ferromagnetism in two-dimensional RuF4. 2D Mater. 11, 035025 (2024).10.1088/2053-1583/ad4c73 ↗
13. Sødequist, J. & Olsena, T. Two-dimensional altermagnets from high throughput computational screening: Symmetry requirements, chiral magnons, and spin-orbit effects. Appl. Phys. Lett. 124, 182409 (2024).10.1063/5.0198285 ↗
14. Zhang, R.-W. et al. Predictable gate-field control of spin in altermagnets with spin-layer coupling. Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 056401 (2024).10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.056401 ↗
15. Gong, J. et al. Hidden real topology and unusual magnetoelectric responses in two-dimensional antiferromagnets. Adv. Mater. 36, 2402232 (2024).10.1002/adma.202402232 ↗
16. Che, Y., Lv, H., Wu, X. & Yang, J. Realizing altermagnetism in two-dimensional metal–organic framework semiconductors with electric-field-controlled anisotropic spin current. Chem. Sci. 15, 13853 (2024).10.1039/D4SC04125A ↗
17. Bai, L. et al. Altermagnetism: exploring new frontiers in magnetism and spintronics. Adv. Funct. Mater. 34, 2409327 (2024).10.1002/adfm.202409327 ↗
18. Zeng, S. & Zhao, Y. Description of two-dimensional altermagnetism: categorization using spin group theory. Phys. Rev. B 110, 054406 (2024).10.1103/PhysRevB.110.054406 ↗
19. Peng, R. et al. All-electrical layer-spintronics in altermagnetic bilayer.Mater. Horiz 12, 2197–2207 (2024).10.1039/D4MH01509F ↗
20. Hu, M., Cheng, X., Huang, Z. & Liu, J. Catalogue of C-paired spin-valley locking in antiferromagnetic systems. Phys. Rev. X 15, 021083 (2025).
21. Pan, B. et al. General stacking theory for altermagnetism in bilayer systems. Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 166701 (2024).10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.166701 ↗
22. León, A., Autieri, C., Brumme, T. & González, J. W. Hybrid d/p-wave altermagnetism in Ca3Ru2O7 and strain-controlled spin splitting. npj Quantum Mater. 10, 98 (2025).10.1038/s41535-025-00814-y ↗
23. Cheong, S.-W. & Huan, F.-T. Altermagnetism classification. npj Quantum Mater. 10, 38 (2025).10.1038/s41535-025-00756-5 ↗
24. Li, S., Zhang, Y., Bahri, A., Zhang, X. & Jia, C. Altermagnetism and strain induced altermagnetic transition in Cairo pentagonal monolayer. npj Quantum Mater. 10, 83 (2025).10.1038/s41535-025-00793-0 ↗
25. Zhu, Z. et al. Altermagnetic proximity effect. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2509.06790 (2025).10.48550/arXiv.2509.06790 ↗
26. Song, C. et al. Altermagnets as a new class of functional materials. Nat. Rev. Mater. 10, 473 (2025).10.1038/s41578-025-00779-1 ↗
27. Krempaský, J. et al. Altermagnetic lifting of Kramers spin degeneracy. Nature 626, 517 (2024).10.1038/s41586-023-06907-7 ↗
28. Han, L. et al. Electrical 180° switching of Néel vector in spin-splitting antiferromagnet. Sci. Adv. 10, eadn0479 (2024).10.1126/sciadv.adn0479 ↗
29. Zhou, Z. et al. Manipulation of the altermagnetic order in CrSb via crystal symmetry. Nature 638, 645 (2025).10.1038/s41586-024-08436-3 ↗
30. Jiang, B. et al. A metallic room-temperature d-wave altermagnet. Nat. Phys. 21, 754 (2025).10.1038/s41567-025-02822-y ↗
31. Fiebig, M., Lottermoser, T., Meier, D. & Trassin, M. The evolution of multiferroics. Nat. Rev. Mater. 1, 16046 (2016).10.1038/natrevmats.2016.46 ↗
32. Seixas, L., Rodin, A. S., Carvalho, A. & Castro Neto, A. H. Multiferroic two-dimensional materials. Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 206803 (2016).10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.206803 ↗
33. Huang, C. et al. Prediction of intrinsic ferromagnetic ferroelectricity in a transition-metal halide monolayer. Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 147601 (2018).10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.147601 ↗
34. Zhang, J. et al. Type-II multiferroic Hf2VC2F2 MXene monolayer with high transition temperature. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 140, 9768 (2018).10.1021/jacs.8b06475 ↗
35. Spaldin, N. A. & Ramesh, R. Advances in magnetoelectric multiferroics. Nat. Mater. 18, 203 (2019).10.1038/s41563-018-0275-2 ↗
36. Feng, Y. et al. Antiferromagnetic ferroelastic multiferroics in single-layer VOX (X = Cl, Br) predicted from first-principles. Appl. Phys. Lett. 119, 173103 (2021).10.1063/5.0071685 ↗
37. Shen, S. et al. Intrinsic triferroicity in a two-dimensional lattice. Phys. Rev. B 103, 144101 (2021).10.1103/PhysRevB.103.144101 ↗
38. Feng, Y., Zhang, T., Dai, Y., Huang, B. & Ma, Y. p-orbital multiferroics in single-layer SiN. Appl. Phys. Lett. 120, 193102 (2022).10.1063/5.0093529 ↗
39. Zhang, T., Xu, X., Dai, Y., Huang, B. & Ma, Y. Intrinsic ferromagnetic triferroicity in bilayer T’-VTe2. Appl. Phys. Lett. 120, 192903 (2022).10.1063/5.0092079 ↗
40. Duan, X. et al. Antiferroelectric altermagnets: antiferroelectricity alters magnets. Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 106801 (2025).10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.106801 ↗
41. Gu, M. et al. Ferroelectric switchable altermagnetism. Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 106802 (2025).10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.106802 ↗
42. Šmejkal, L. Altermagnetic multiferroics and altermagnetoelectric effect. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2411.19928 (2024).10.48550/arXiv.2411.19928 ↗
43. Sun, W. et al. Proposing altermagnetic-ferroelectric type-III multiferroics with robust magnetoelectric coupling. Adv. Mater. 37, 2502575 (2025).10.1002/adma.202502575 ↗
44. Zhu, Z. et al. Two-dimensional ferroelectric altermagnets: from model to material realization. Nano Lett. 25, 9456 (2025).10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c02121 ↗
45. Sun, W. et al. Altermagnetism induced by sliding ferroelectricity via lattice symmetry-mediated magnetoelectric coupling. Nano Lett. 24, 11179 (2024).10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c02248 ↗
46. Matsuda, J., Watanabe, H. & Arita, R. Multiferroic collinear antiferromagnet with hidden altermagnetic split. Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 226703 (2025).10.1103/vgcs-bn8g ↗
47. Guo, P.-J., Gu, Y., Gao, Z.-F. & Lu, Z.-Y. Altermagnetic ferroelectric LiFe2F6 and spin-triplet excitonic insulator phase. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2312.13911 (2023).10.48550/arXiv.2312.13911 ↗
48. Zhu, Z. et al. Emergent multiferroic altermagnets and spin control via noncollinear molecular polarization. Sci. China-Phys. Mech. Astron. 68, 127562 (2025).10.1007/s11433-025-2778-3 ↗
49. Wu, M. & Zeng, X. C. Intrinsic ferroelasticity and/or multiferroicity in two-dimensional phosphorene and phosphorene analogues. Nano. Lett. 16, 3236 (2016).10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b00726 ↗
50. Kou, L. et al. Auxetic and ferroelastic borophane: a novel 2D material with negative Possion’s ratio and switchable Dirac transport channels. Nano Lett. 16, 7910 (2016).10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b04180 ↗
51. Xuan, X., Guo, W. & Zhang, Z. Ferroelasticity in two-dimensional tetragonal materials. Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 047602 (2022).10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.047602 ↗
52. Li, W. & Li, J. Ferroelasticity and domain physics in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers. Nat. Commun. 7, 10843 (2016).10.1038/ncomms10843 ↗
53. Zhang, T., Ma, Y., Yu, L., Huang, B. & Dai, Y. Direction-control of anisotropic electronic behaviors via ferroelasticity in two-dimensional α-MPI (M = Zr, Hf). Mater. Horiz. 6, 1930 (2019).10.1039/C9MH00633H ↗
54. Hitzer, E. & Ichikawa, D. Representation of crystallographic subperiodic groups by geometric algebra, arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1306.1280 (2013).10.48550/arXiv.1306.1280 ↗
55. Casteel, W. J. et al. Preparation and structure of ruthenium tetrafluoride and a structural comparison with ruthenium trifluoride and ruthenium pentafluoride. Inorg. Chem. 31, 3124 (1992).10.1021/ic00040a024 ↗
56. Billy, C. & Haendler, H. M. The crystal structure of copper(II) fluoride. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 79, 1049 (1957).10.1021/ja01562a011 ↗
57. Jung, J. H., Park, C.-H. & Ihm, J. A rigorous method of calculating exfoliation energies from first principles. Nano. Lett. 18, 2759 (2018).10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b04201 ↗
58. See Supplemental Material for details about stabilities, orbital spitting and magnetic states for monolayers RuF4 and CuF2.
59. Cadelano, E., Palla, P. L., Giordano, S. & Colombo, L. Elastic properties of hydrogenated graphene. Phys. Rev. B 82, 235414 (2010).10.1103/PhysRevB.82.235414 ↗
60. Xu, X. et al. Prediction of two-dimensional antiferromagnetic ferroelasticity in an AgF2 monolayer. Nanoscale Horiz. 5, 1386 (2020).10.1039/D0NH00362J ↗
61. Etxebarria, J., Perez-Mato, J. M., Tasci, E. S. & Elcoro, L. Crystal tensor properties of magnetic materials with and without spin–orbit coupling. Application of spin point groups as approximate symmetries. Acta Cryst. A81, 317 (2025).
62. Gallego, S. V., Etxebarria, J., Elcoro, L., Tascib, E. S. & Perez-Mato, J. M. Automatic calculation of symmetry-adapted tensors in magnetic and non-magnetic materials: a new tool of the Bilbao Crystallographic Server. Acta Cryst. A 75, 438 (2019).10.1107/S2053273319001748 ↗
63. Hicks, C. W., Barber, M. E., Edkins, S. D., Brodsky, D. O. & Mackenzie, A. P. Piezoelectric-based apparatus for strain tuning. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 065003 (2014).10.1063/1.4881611 ↗
64. Patra, S., Ajayan, P. M. & Narayanan, T. N. Dynamic mechanical analysis in materials science: the Novice’s Tale. Oxf. Open Mater. Sci. 1, itaa001 (2021).10.1093/oxfmat/itaa001 ↗
65. Nie, X. et al. Surface acoustic wave induced phenomena in two-dimensional materials. Nanoscale Horiz. 8, 158 (2023).10.1039/D2NH00458E ↗
66. Becker, S. & Müller, B. G. Vanadium tetrafluoride. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 29, 406 (1990).10.1002/anie.199004061 ↗
67. Zhang, L., Tang, C. & Du, A. Two-dimensional vanadium tetrafluoride with antiferromagnetic ferroelasticity and bidirectional negative Poisson’s ratio. J. Mater. Chem. C. 9, 95 (2021).10.1039/D0TC04846A ↗
68. Fischer, P. et al. Crystal and magnetic structure of silver difluoride: I. Determination of the AgF2 structure. J. Phys. Chem. Solids 32, 543 (1971).10.1016/0022-3697(71)90003-5 ↗
69. Kohn, W. & Sham, L. J. Self-consistent equations including exchange and correlation effects. Phys. Rev. 140, A1133 (1965).10.1103/PhysRev.140.A1133 ↗
70. Kresse, G. & Furthmüller, J. Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set. Phys. Rev. B 54, 11169 (1996).10.1103/PhysRevB.54.11169 ↗
71. Perdew, J. P., Burke, K. & Ernzerhof, M. Generalized gradient approximation made simple. Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 3865 (1996).10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.3865 ↗
72. Monkhorst, H. J. & Pack, J. D. Special points for Brillouin-zone integrations. Phys. Rev. B 13, 5188 (1976).10.1103/PhysRevB.13.5188 ↗
73. Togo, A. & Tanaka, I. First-principles phonon calculations in materials science. Scr. Mater. 108, 1 (2015).10.1016/j.scriptamat.2015.07.021 ↗
74. Barnett, R. N. & Landman, U. Born-Oppenheimer molecular-dynamics simulations of finite systems: structure and dynamics of (H2O)2. Phys. Rev. B 48, 2081 (1993).10.1103/PhysRevB.48.2081 ↗
75. Mostofi, A. A. et al. An updated version of wannier90: a tool for obtaining maximally-localised Wannier functions. Comput. Phys. Commun. 185, 2309 (2014).10.1016/j.cpc.2014.05.003 ↗
76. Ding, N., Ye, H., Wang, S. & Dong, S. Ferroelasticity tunable altermagnets. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2510.14193 (2025).10.48550/arXiv.2510.14193 ↗
77. Urru, A. et al. G-type antiferromagnetic BiFeO3 is a multiferroic g-wave altermagnet. Phys. Rev. B 112, 104411 (2025).10.1103/v3fg-6smc ↗
78. Fu, P. H. et al. All-electrically controlled spintronics in altermagnetic heterostructures. npj Quant. Mater. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-025-00827-7 (2025).10.1038/s41535-025-00827-7 ↗