Research

Altermagnets exhibit momentum-dependent spin-splitting in a collinear antiferromagnetic order due to their peculiar crystallographic and magnetic symmetry, resulting in the creation of spin currents with light elements. Here, we report two two-dimensional (2D) metal-organic framework (MOF) semiconductors, M(pyz)₂ (M = Ca and Sr, pyz = pyrazine), which exhibit both altermagnetism and topological nodal point and line by using first-principles calculations and group theory. The altermagnetic 2D MOFs exhibit unconventional spin-splitting and macroscopic zero magnetization caused by 4-fold rotation in crystalline real space and 2-fold rotation in spin space, leading to the generation and control of anisotropic spin currents when an in-plane electric field is applied. In particular, pure spin current with the spin Hall effect occurs when the electric field is applied along the angular bisector of the two spin arrangements. Our work indicates the existence of altermagnetic MOF systems and a universal approach to generate electric-field-controlled spin currents for potential applications in antiferromagnetic spintronics.

Downlowd the full article from Royal Society of Chemistry.