Altermagnetic multiferroics with symmetry-locked magnetoelectric coupling
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Subjects Ferroelectrics and multiferroicsMagnetic properties and materials We discuss altermagnetic multiferroics, materials hosting distinct advantages for low-power spintronic devices, including a zero net magnetization that eliminates stray fields, a momentum-dependent spin splitting enabling controllable spin currents and an intrinsic strong magnetoelectric coupling originating from the spin space symmetry. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access options Access through your institution Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription $32.99 / 30 days cancel any time Learn more Subscribe to this journal Receive 12 print issues and online access $259.00 per year only $21.58 per issue Learn more Buy this articlePurchase on SpringerLinkInstant access to the full article PDF.USD 39.95Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout Fig. 1: Altermagnetic–antiferromagnetic phase transition induced by ferroelectric–antiferroelectric switching.Fig. 2: Polarization-controlled reversal of altermagnetic spin-splitting directions. ReferencesŠmejkal, L., Sinova, J. & Jungwirth, T. Phys. Rev. X 12, 040501 (2022). Google Scholar Šmejkal, L., Sinova, J. & Jungwirth, T. Phys. Rev. X 12, 031042 (2022).
Google Scholar Duan, X. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 106801 (2025).Article PubMed CAS Google Scholar Sun, W. et al. Nano Lett. 24, 11179–11186 (2024).Article PubMed CAS Google Scholar Sun, W. et al. Adv. Mater. 37, 2502575 (2025).Article PubMed PubMed Central CAS Google Scholar Gu, M. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 106802 (2025).Article PubMed CAS Google Scholar Šmejkal, L. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2411.19928 (2024).Zhu, Z. et al. Nano Lett. 25, 9456–9462 (2025).Article PubMed CAS Google Scholar Zhu, Y. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 056801 (2025).Article PubMed CAS Google Scholar Cao, R., Dong, R., Fei, R. & Yao, Y. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2412.20347 (2024).Guo, W.-T., Xu, J., Yang, Y., Wang, H. & Zhang, H. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2505.01964 (2025).Download referencesAcknowledgementsThis work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 12304141), the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (grant no. ZR2023QA001), the Taishan Scholars Program (grant nos. tsqn202312209 and tstp20221130), and the Shandong provincial key research and development plan (grant no. 2022CXPT045). Z.C. thanks the Australian Research Council for support (DP260102992).Author informationAuthors and AffiliationsShandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Green and Intelligent Building Materials, University of Jinan, Jinan, ChinaWei Sun, Changhong Yang & Shifeng HuangInstitute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials, Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences, University of Wollongong, North Wollongong, New South Wales, AustraliaXiaotian Wang & Zhenxiang ChengAuthorsWei SunView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarChanghong YangView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarXiaotian WangView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarShifeng HuangView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarZhenxiang ChengView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarCorresponding authorCorrespondence to Zhenxiang Cheng.Ethics declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Peer review Peer review information Nature Materials thanks Hugo Dil and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Rights and permissionsReprints and permissionsAbout this articleCite this articleSun, W., Yang, C., Wang, X. et al. Altermagnetic multiferroics with symmetry-locked magnetoelectric coupling. Nat. Mater. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02518-5Download citationPublished: 23 February 2026Version of record: 23 February 2026DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02518-5Share this articleAnyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:Get shareable linkSorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.Copy shareable link to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative