Heterostructures for exploring altermagnetic and superconducting spintronics (HEXAS)

Altermagnetism describes a symmetry class of compensated magnets in which the spin symmetry group to which they belong allows for alternating spin polarizations both in crystal space and momentum space of the non-relativistic electronic structure. The actual development of altermagnetism as a new avenue in spintronics now calls for more direct demonstration. A key focus of this project will be on the experimental observation of tunnel magnetoresistance and spin transfer torque effects, as well as spin-polarized triplet superconductivity, and their theoretical modelling in actual heterostructures. The partnership between two German (Andy Thomas, IFW and Libor Šmejkal, JGU) and two French laboratories (Vincent Baltz, SPINTEC and Lisa Michez, CINaM) brings a unique combination of know-how and experimental capabilities to study dedicated samples with different approaches: high-quality thin-film deposition, nanofabrication, superconductivity, magneto-transport based on tunnel magnetoresistance, and spin-torque manipulation. Additionally, material-specific theoretical modelling methodologies are available.