Electric-field Control Achieves 9.7% Resistance Modulation in Altermagnetic MnTe for Neuromorphic Computing

The pursuit of energy-efficient computing drives research into novel magnetic materials, and altermagnets represent a particularly promising, yet challenging, area of investigation. Zhiyuan Duan, Peixin Qin, Chengyan Zhong, and colleagues demonstrate a breakthrough in controlling altermagnetism in manganese telluride through the application of electric fields. The team successfully coupled manganese telluride with a piezoelectric material, allowing them to manipulate its magnetic state with minimal power consumption, achieving reversible switching of altermagnetic spin splitting. This innovative approach not only enables ultra-low-power control of altermagnetism, but also unlocks the potential of these materials for building energy-efficient computing architectures, as demonstrated by a Hopfield network achieving 100% pattern recognition accuracy even in noisy conditions.

Scientists have now demonstrated a breakthrough in controlling altermagnetism in manganese telluride through the application of electric fields. The team successfully coupled manganese telluride with a piezoelectric material, allowing them to manipulate its magnetic state with minimal power consumption, achieving reversible switching of altermagnetic spin splitting. This innovative approach unlocks the potential of these materials for building energy-efficient computing architectures, as demonstrated by a Hopfield network achieving 100% pattern recognition accuracy even in noisy conditions.

MnTe and PMN-PT Heterostructure Fabrication and Characterisation

Scientists engineered a novel approach to control altermagnetism in manganese telluride by integrating it with a ferroelectric material. The study pioneered the fabrication of high-quality manganese telluride single crystals, ensuring phase purity and structural integrity. Researchers then constructed heterostructures by combining manganese telluride flakes with the ferroelectric material, leveraging its piezoelectric properties to induce strain in the manganese telluride. Magnetization and resistivity measurements confirmed the altermagnetic nature of manganese telluride and identified a key transition temperature.

Applying an electric field enabled precise modulation of this transition temperature, reversibly switching the altermagnetic spin splitting “on” and “off”. This electric-field control generates lattice distortions and magnetic structure changes within the manganese telluride, resulting in significant resistance modulation around the magnetic phase transition. The team demonstrated the practical application of this control by implementing programmable resistance states in a Hopfield network, achieving 100% pattern recognition accuracy even at noise levels up to 40%. This work establishes electric-field control as a low-power strategy for manipulating altermagnetic materials and validates their potential for energy-efficient, beyond-conventional charge-based architectures.

Electric Field Controls Altermagnetism in Manganese Telluride

Scientists have demonstrated ultra-low-power electric-field control of altermagnetism in manganese telluride through a novel heterostructure. Detailed structural characterization confirmed the synthesis of high-quality, single-crystalline manganese telluride with a precise atomic arrangement. Measurements corroborated the altermagnetic nature of manganese telluride, confirming a compensated magnetic system with a characteristic transition around 310 Kelvin. The team engineered a prototype device where application of an electric field modulates the transition temperature of manganese telluride, effectively lifting it by 18 Kelvin.

This electric field induces strain, propagating to the manganese telluride flake and generating microscopic lattice distortions and magnetic structure changes. Temperature-dependent resistance measurements reveal significant resistance modulation around the magnetic phase transition temperature, demonstrating the ability to reversibly switch the altermagnetic spin splitting “on” and “off”. This research establishes electric-field control as a low-power strategy for manipulating altermagnetic materials and demonstrates the viability of these materials for energy-efficient, beyond-conventional charge-based architectures.

Electric Field Controls Altermagnetism and Networks

This work demonstrates deterministic electric-field control of altermagnetism, achieved through carefully engineered heterostructures of manganese telluride. Researchers successfully enhanced the transition temperature of manganese telluride by 18 K with the application of an electric field, and observed significant modulation of resistance near the magnetic phase transition. This control arises from strain induced in manganese telluride, establishing a pathway for manipulating altermagnetic states with minimal energy expenditure. The team validated the potential of this approach by implementing a Hopfield network utilizing the analog resistance states, achieving 100% pattern recognition accuracy even with significant noise levels. These results resolve a key challenge in the field, namely the efficient manipulation of altermagnetic materials, and simultaneously demonstrate their viability for both ultrafast spintronics and energy-efficient neuromorphic computing.