Lytvynenko, Y.; Akashdeep, A.; Vo, T. P.; Tkach, O.; Chernov, S. V.; Gloskovskii, A.; Schlueter, C.; Luo, C.; Ukleev, V.; Radu, F.; Kronast, F.; Hiroto, T.; Winkelmann, A.; Minar, J.; Kläui, M.; Schönhense, G.; Jakob, G.; Elmers, H. J.; Fedchenko, O.: Magnetic Circular Dichroism in Core-Level X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Altermagnetic RuO2 Films. In: Tom Thomson (University of Manchester) General Chair [Ed.] : 2026 IEEE International Magnetic Conference : Proceedings, Manchester, UK 13 - 17 April 2026Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2026. - ISBN 979-8-3315-5762-1, p. 1-2
10.1109/INTERMAGShortPapers68882.2026.11596297
Abstract:
Beyond the two long-recognized forms of magnetic order - ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism - a third collinear type known as altermagnetism has recently drawn considerable scientific attention. We investigated epitaxial RuO2(110)/TiO2(110) films via magnetic circular dichroism in core-level XPS (MCD-XPS) at the Ru 2p levels and XMCD at the Ru M3,2 edges using 6 keV circularly polarized x-rays. Charge transfer multiplet calculations attribute both signals to altermagnetic locking of Ru magnetic moments and a crystal field distortion induced by the epitaxial strain. The resulting octahedral crystal fields on the two RuO2 sublattices are rotated by 90° relative to each other. Sign reversals in MCD-XPS across the sample confirm the presence of altermagnetic domains on the scale of hundreds of micrometers.