High-Efficiency Nonrelativistic Charge-Spin Conversion in X-Type Antiferromagnets

Abstract

Antiferromagnetic materials with spin splitting have attracted considerable attention for their symmetry-enabled anisotropic spin textures that sustain a zero net magnetization, thereby facilitating efficient spin-current generation. In this work, the highly efficient generation of nonrelativistic spin currents is demonstrated to be facilitated by the distinctive Fermi surface geometry of X-type collinear antiferromagnets. As a prototype conducting X-type antiferromagnet, the Fermi surface of $β-\mathrm{Fe_2PO_5}$ exhibits a distinct $d$-wave altermagnetic characteristic, which compresses into a nearly X-shaped configuration. This results in highly efficient spin currents, achieving a charge-spin conversion efficiency of up to 90\%. Moreover, the spin current polarization is controlled by the orientation of the Néel vector. When the Néel vector tilts to the out-of-plane direction, an in-plane injected charge current can generate a special spin current component with both spin polarization and propagation along the out-of-plane direction, whose charge-spin conversion efficiency substantially exceeds that of known ferromagnets, altermagnets, noncollinear antiferromagnets, and low-symmetry materials. The highly efficient charge-spin conversion in X-type antiferromagnets provides a novel and highly effective spin source system for the development of low-power spintronic devices.