Altermagnets can transfer their unusual magnetic properties to nonmagnetic materials placed next to them, say theorists in China and the US. This so-called “proximity effect” had already been observed in ferromagnets and superconductors, but it is new for altermagnets, which were only recognized as a distinct class of magnetic materials in 2024. If confirmed experimentally, the team says the effect could aid the development of advanced quantum materials with applications in fields such as spintronics, valleytronics and fault-tolerant quantum computing.

In ferromagnets, proximity effects make it possible to tune properties such as magnetic anisotropy, coercivity and exchange bias in nonmagnetic materials that have acquired magnetic polarization from a neighbouring ferromagnet. Similarly, ordinary materials that have picked up superconducting correlations from a nearby superconductor are a mainstay of experiments on topological superconductivity and topological quantum computing.

In the latest research, physicists led by Tong Zhou of the Eastern Institute of Technology in Ningbo sought to understand whether altermagnets could likewise transfer their behaviour to a neighbouring material. To do this, they created a model of a van der Waals bilayer heterostructure in which the bottom layer is a two-dimensional (2D) altermagnet, V₂Se₂O, while the top layer is a non-magnetic semiconductor, PbO.

Zhou explains that the vanadium atoms in V₂Se₂O form two opposite-spin sublattices that are connected by rotational symmetry rather than by simple translation or inversion. This complex structure is what gives V₂Se₂O its characteristic altermagnetic spin splitting, with a band structure in which spin-up and spin-down electrons have different energies that vary in periodic patterns. V₂Se₂O also has a so-called spin texture, which is a pattern of spin polarization that produces a net zero magnetization in the material.

First-principles calculations

Using first-principles calculations, the researchers found that the distinctive symmetry-patterned magnetism of V₂Se₂O can indeed transfer into the PbO layer across the interface between them. As a result, Zhou says the originally spin-degenerate bands of PbO develop a clear momentum-dependent spin splitting.

Importantly, this pattern is not arbitrary. Instead, it follows the symmetry expected from the altermagnetic order of V₂Se₂O. What is more, the real-space spin density of the PbO mirrors the symmetry of the V₂Se₂O, showing that it has inherited altermagnetism rather than simply becoming generically spin polarized.

When the researchers rearranged the V₂Se₂O into a conventional antiferromagnetic configuration with no alternating spin splitting, they found that the induced splitting in PbO disappeared. They also observed that the degree of induced splitting decreases when the PbO is placed further away from the V₂Se₂O, confirming the proximity effect.

As a final piece of evidence, the researchers searched for similar proximity effects in other altermagnetic systems, ranging from insulators to metals and covering material platforms with 3D architectures as well as 2D ones. “Even graphene, one of the most common 2D materials, can acquire altermagnetic characteristics when interfaced with CrSb, which is an experimentally well-established altermagnet,” Zhou notes.

Altermagnets as interfacial “spin-pattern generators”

One of the work’s main implications is that altermagnets could be used to generate spin patterns in many otherwise non-magnetic materials, Zhou tells Physics World. “This means that instead of searching only for intrinsic altermagnets, we can now design ‘proximitized’ altermagnetic systems by combining an altermagnet with a semiconductor, metal or superconductor,” he says.

In semiconductors, Zhou notes, the altermagnetic proximity effect can induce controllable spin and valley splitting, which are promising for spintronics and valleytronics devices, respectively. In superconductors, meanwhile, the effect can generate momentum-dependent spin splitting without the need to apply an external magnetic field or introduce net magnetization – something that Zhou says offers a new route toward topological superconductivity and the Majorana modes that could revolutionize fault-tolerant quantum computing. “More generally, this effect provides a versatile platform for designing field-free spin devices, topological quantum devices and multifunctional van der Waals heterostructures,” he says.

Looking ahead, Zhou and colleagues say they would now like to observe the altermagnetic proximity effect in heterostructures fabricated in the laboratory. They also want to find out how to control the strength of the effect – for example, by changing interlayer spacing, stacking, strain, gating and possibly even layer twisting.

“More fundamentally, an important question is how fast and how reversibly altermagnetic order, and therefore the altermagnetic proximity effect, can be reconfigured dynamically,” Zhou says. “That would be especially interesting for controlling spin-dependent transport and topological phases in real time.”

The research is described in  Physical Review Letters.