Altermagnetic bulk and topological surface magnetizations for CrSb single crystals

N. N. Orlova; A. A. Avakyants; V. D. Esin; A. V. Timonina; N. N. Kolesnikov; E. V. Deviatov

Paper

Altermagnetic bulk and topological surface magnetizations for CrSb single crystals

Abstract

We experimentally investigate the angle dependence of magnetization

for single crystals of CrSb. CrSb belongs to a new class of altermagnetic materials, the small net magnetization is accompanied by alternating spin splitting in the k-space. In addition, CrSb reveals also topological features with Weyl surface states originating from bulk band topology. We observe, that

oscillates around zero value, so magnetization is positive for

maxima and it is negative for

minima. The magnetization reversal curves

are non-linear with low-field hysteresis, but with almost linear high-field branches. The slope of the linear branches well correlates with

oscillations, so it is positive for

maxima and negative for

minima. We demonstrate, that the interplay between the positive and the negative

slopes originates from several magnetic phases in CrSb. In particular, current-carrying topological surface states are responsible for the diamagnetic-like

negative slope, which dominates for the directions of full spin compensation in the bulk CrSb altermagnetic spectrum. Due to the spin-momentum locking, topological surface states are spin-polarized, which is responsible for the low-field hysteresis. Thus, we experimentally demonstrate both the altermagnetic bulk and the topological surface magnetizations for the altermagnetic candidate CrSb.