Symmetry and magnetoelastic coupling of altermagnetic MnTe and CrSb

Altermagnets are a newly discovered type of magnetic materials with potential applications in spintronics. Their utilization and integration into devices rely on the coupling of antiferromagnetic spins to an external field via weak uncompensated magnetic moments arising from spin canting. This canting depends, in turn, on the structural symmetry of the compound. In this experiment, we will probe the structural symmetry of two candidate altermagnets, alpha-MnTe and CrSb, using high-resolution powder XRD at ID22. Our experiment will address the origin of weak uncompensated moments in these compounds and elucidate their strong magnetoelastic coupling.