Realizing Altermagnetism in Fermi-Hubbard Models with Ultracold Atoms.

Altermagnetism represents a type of collinear magnetism, that is in some aspects distinct from ferromagnetism and from conventional antiferromagnetism. In contrast to the latter, sublattices of opposite spin are related by spatial rotations and not only by translations and inversions. As a result, altermagnets have spin-split bands leading to unique experimental signatures. Here, we show theoretically how a d-wave altermagnetic phase can be realized with ultracold fermionic atoms in optical lattices. We propose an altermagnetic Hubbard model with anisotropic next-nearest neighbor hopping and obtain the Hartree-Fock phase diagram. The altermagnetic phase separates in a metallic and an insulating phase and is robust over a large parameter regime. We show that one of the defining characteristics of altermagnetism, the anisotropic spin transport, can be probed with trap-expansion experiments.

Spontaneous Formation of Altermagnetism from Orbital Ordering.

Altermagnetism has emerged as a third type of collinear magnetism. In contrast to standard ferromagnets and antiferromagnets, altermagnets exhibit extra even-parity wave spin order parameters resulting in a spin splitting of electronic bands in momentum space. In real space, sublattices of opposite spin polarization are anisotropic and related by rotational symmetry. In the hitherto identified altermagnetic candidate materials, the anisotropies arise from the local crystallographic symmetry. Here, we show that altermagnetism can also form as an interaction-induced electronic instability in a lattice without the crystallographic sublattice anisotropy. We provide a microscopic example of a two-orbital model showing that the coexistence of staggered antiferromagnetic and orbital order can realize robust altermagnetism. We quantify the spin-splitter conductivity as a key experimental observable and discuss material candidates for the interaction-induced realization of altermagnetism.

Quantum oscillations of the quasiparticle lifetime in a metal.

Following nearly a century of research, it remains a puzzle that the low-lying excitations of metals are remarkably well explained by effective single-particle theories of non-interacting bands1-4. The abundance of interactions in real materials raises the question of direct spectroscopic signatures of phenomena beyond effective single-particle, single-band behaviour. Here we report the identification of quantum oscillations (QOs) in the three-dimensional topological semimetal CoSi, which defy the standard description in two fundamental aspects. First, the oscillation frequency corresponds to the difference of semiclassical quasiparticle (QP) orbits of two bands, which are forbidden as half of the trajectory would oppose the Lorentz force. Second, the oscillations exist up to above 50 K, in strong contrast to all other oscillatory components, which vanish below a few kelvin. Our findings are in excellent agreement with generic model calculations of QOs of the QP lifetime (QPL). Because the only precondition for their existence is a nonlinear coupling of at least two electronic orbits, for example, owing to QP scattering on defects or collective excitations, such QOs of the QPL are generic for any metal featuring Landau quantization with several orbits. They are consistent with certain frequencies in topological semimetals5-9, unconventional superconductors10,11, rare-earth compounds12-14 and Rashba systems15, and permit to identify and gauge correlation phenomena, for example, in two-dimensional materials16,17 and multiband metals18.