Recently, altermagnets have emerged as promising candidates in spintronics, uniquely combining large spin-polarized electronic states with zero net magnetization. A prominent example is $α$-MnTe, whose altermagnetic spin splitting, i.e., the degeneracy lift in momentum space induced by collinear magnetic order, has been experimentally observed. However, the direct evidence of its $g$-wave spin polarization, the key property for altermagnetic spintronics, is thus far lacking. By combining high-resolution spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (SARPES) with first-principles calculations, we reveal a $k_z$-independent, Rashba-like spin texture in $α$-MnTe. Our results indicate that the observed spin polarization is primarily governed by spin-orbit coupling, whereas the magnetic order contributes to the splitting of energy bands but plays a much less dominant role in spin polarization due to the multi-domain nature. From this result, we further establish a way to prescreen altermagnet candidates that favor the formation of large antiferromagnetic domains based on symmetry analysis. Our work elucidates the interplay between magnetic order and spin-orbit coupling in governing spin polarization in altermagnet candidates, and thereby advances the materials design paradigm for spin-functional devices.
Atomic-Scale Observation of Symmetry Breaking in Altermagnetic MnTe
University of Washington（华盛顿大学）；University of Illinois Chicago（伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校）；Uppsala University（乌普萨拉大学）；Rice University（莱斯大学）；Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院）；Brno University of Technology（布尔诺理工大学）；University of Nottingham（诺丁汉大学）；Tohoku University（东北大学）；Pacific Northwest National Laboratory（太平洋西北国家实验室）
Revisiting the symmetry and optical phonons of altermagnetic $α$-MnTe
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf（德累斯顿罗森多夫亥姆霍兹中心）；Felix Bloch Institute for Solid-State Physics, University of Leipzig（莱比锡大学费利克斯·布洛赫固体物理研究所）；Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids（马克斯·普朗克固体化学物理学研究所）
Chiral Phonons Coupled to Spin-Split Bands in Altermagnetic CrSb and MnTe
CNR - Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM)（意大利国家研究委员会材料研究所）；Universität Würzburg（维尔茨堡大学）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna（博洛尼亚大学物理与天文学系）
Strain continuously rotates the Néel vector in altermagnetic MnTe
University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校）；Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory（劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室）；University of Notre Dame（圣母大学）；Stavropoulos Center for Complex Quantum Matter, University of Notre Dame（圣母大学斯塔夫罗普洛斯复杂量子物质中心）；University of Washington（华盛顿大学）；George Mason University（乔治梅森大学）；Quantum Science and Engineering Center, George Mason University（乔治梅森大学量子科学与工程中心）；Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids（马克斯·普朗克固体化学物理研究所）；Institute of Science and Technology Austria（奥地利科学技术研究院）
Control of band structure in the altermagnetic candidate MnTe by temperature and strain
The University of Osaka（大阪大学）；Institute for Molecular Science（分子科学研究所）；The Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo（东京大学固体物理研究所）；Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University（京都大学化学研究所）；Sogang University（西江大学）
Giant spontaneous Kerr effect and its self-doping dependence in altermagnetic MnTe
University of California, Irvine（加州大学尔湾分校）；Pohang University of Science and Technology（浦项科技大学）；U.S. Naval Research Laboratory（美国海军研究实验室）；Rutgers University（罗格斯大学）；National TsingHua University（国立清华大学）
Conductivity scaling of the anomalous Hall effect in the altermagnetic semiconductor α-MnTe
University of Notre Dame（圣母大学）；U.S. Naval Research Laboratory（美国海军研究实验室）；Stavropoulos Center for Quantum Matter, University of Notre Dame（圣母大学斯塔夫罗普洛斯量子物质中心）；Northeastern University（东北大学）；Quantum Materials and Sensing Institute, Northeastern University Innovation Campus（东北大学创新校区量子材料与传感研究所）；Synchrotron SOLEIL（SOLEIL同步辐射光源）；AGH University of Krakow（克拉科夫AGH科技大学）；Oak Ridge National Laboratory（橡树岭国家实验室）
Loss of altermagnetic order and smooth restoration of Kramers' spin degeneracy with increasing temperature in CrSb and MnTe
H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol（布里斯托大学 H.H. 威尔斯物理实验室）；Department of Physics, University of Warwick（华威大学物理系）；Institute for Theoretical Physics, Johannes Keppler University Linz（林茨约翰内斯·开普勒大学理论物理研究所）；Donostia International Physics Center（圣塞巴斯蒂安国际物理中心）；Max-Planck-Institut für Mikrostrukturphysik（马克斯·普朗克微结构物理研究所）
Surface-State-Driven Anomalous Hall Effect in Altermagnetic MnTe Films
The Pennsylvania State University（宾夕法尼亚州立大学）；Weizmann Institute of Science（魏茨曼科学研究所）；Binghamton University（宾汉姆顿大学）；STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory（英国科学与技术设施理事会鲁瑟福阿普尔顿实验室）；National Institute of Standards and Technology（美国国家标准与技术研究院）
Effect of polar distortions on the linear and nonlinear anomalous Hall conductivity of altermagnetic $α$-MnTe
International Research Centre Magtop, Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences（波兰科学院物理研究所马格托国际研究中心）；School of Quantum Physics and Matter, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM)（伊朗基础科学研究院量子物质学院）；Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences（波兰科学院物理研究所）
Thermally-driven reorientation of the Néel vector in altermagnetic MnTe
PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences（瑞士保罗谢勒研究所中子与μ子科学中心）；Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University（布拉格查理大学数学与物理学院）；Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院物理研究所）；Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University（布尔诺马萨里克大学理学院凝聚态物理系）；School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham（诺丁汉大学物理与天文学学院）；PSI Center for Photon Science（瑞士保罗谢勒研究所光子科学中心）；Institut de Physique, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne（洛桑联邦理工学院物理研究所）
Unlocking Doping Effects on Altermagnetism in MnTe: Emergence of Quasi-altermagnetism
Indian Institute of Technology Madras（印度马德拉斯理工学院）；Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore（印度科学研究所班加罗尔分校）；Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA)（国际高等研究院）
Observation of the Optical Phonons in α-MnTe films
University of Central Florida（中佛罗里达大学）；Nanoscience Technology Center, University of Central Florida（中佛罗里达大学纳米科学技术中心）；Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Central Florida（中佛罗里达大学材料科学与工程系）；Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research, Polish Academy of Sciences（波兰科学院低温与结构研究所）；Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences（波兰科学院核物理研究所）
Magnetically tunable symmetry-enforced nodal lines producing huge anomalous Hall conductivity in altermagnetic $α$-MnTe
International Research Centre Magtop, Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences（波兰科学院物理研究所磁顶国际研究中心）；Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences（波兰科学院物理研究所）；New Technologies-Research Center, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen（比尔森西波希米亚大学新技术研究中心）；Photon Science Division, Paul Scherrer Institut（保罗谢尔研究所光子科学部）；Institute of Semiconductor and Solid State Physics, Johannes Kepler University of Linz（林茨约翰内斯开普勒大学半导体与固体物理研究所）；Solaris National Synchrotron Radiation Centre（索拉里斯国家同步辐射中心）
Systematic display of the spin splitting in band structures of representative altermagnetic crystals
Rutgers University（罗格斯大学）；Addis Ababa Science and Technology University（亚的斯亚贝巴科学技术大学）；Università di Cagliari（卡利亚里大学）；University of Texas at Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校）；Soongsil University（崇实大学）；Universidad Andres Bello（安德烈斯贝略大学）
Altermagnetic spin textures: Emergent electrodynamics, quantum geometry, and probes
Hearne Institute of Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Louisiana State University（路易斯安那州立大学物理与天文学系希恩理论物理研究所）；Institute for Theoretical Physics III, University of Stuttgart（斯图加特大学理论物理第三研究所）
Nanoscale imaging of spin textures with locally varying altermagnetic response in $α$-Fe$_2$O$_3$
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids（马克斯·普朗克固体化学物理研究所）；International Institute for Sustainability with Knotted Chiral Meta Matter (WPI-SKCM 2 ), Hiroshima University（广岛大学可持续性与打结手性超物质国际研究所）；Paul Scherrer Institut（保罗谢尔研究所）；ETH Zürich（苏黎世联邦理工学院）；Osaka Metropolitan University（大阪公立大学）；Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH（柏林亥姆霍兹材料与能源中心）；Universität of Augsburg（奥格斯堡大学）；RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS)（理化学研究所涌现物质科学中心）；Diamond Light Source（英国钻石光源）
Plaid-Like Spin Splitting and Chirality of Magnon Bands in Antiferromagnetic MnTe$_2$
Sejong University（世宗大学）；Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)（韩国科学技术院）；Sungkyunkwan University（成均馆大学）；Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica（中央研究院物理研究所）
Altermagnetic Signatures and Topological Textures in Ultrathin Multiferroic BiFeO$_3$
Brown University（布朗大学）；Cornell University（康奈尔大学）；Rice University（莱斯大学）；Rice Advanced Materials Institute, Rice University（莱斯大学先进材料研究所）；MAX IV Laboratory（MAX IV实验室）；University of Arkansas（阿肯色大学）；Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz（美因茨约翰内斯·古腾堡大学）；Oak Ridge National Laboratory（橡树岭国家实验室）；Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems（马克斯·普朗克复杂系统物理研究所）；University of Augsburg（奥格斯堡大学）；Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory（劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室）；University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校）；Tel Aviv University（特拉维夫大学）；Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids（马克斯·普朗克固体化学物理研究所）；Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院）；Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Cornell University（康奈尔纳米科学卡弗里研究所）；Leibniz-Institut für Kristallzüchtung（莱布尼兹晶体生长研究所）；Smalley-Curl Institute, Rice University（莱斯大学斯莫利-柯尔研究所）；Northeastern University（东北大学）
Nonrelativistic and Relativistic Contributions to Spin-Momentum Locking and Spin Photogalvanic Effect in an Altermagnetic Multiferroic
University of Milan-Bicocca（米兰比可卡大学）；Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR-SPIN)（意大利国家研究委员会）；Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences（波兰科学院物理研究所）；Ca’ Foscari University of Venice（威尼斯大学）
