Event Type: IFIMAColloquium
Title: Superconductivity in Altermagnets
When: Friday, 8th May, 2026, at 12:00h
Where: Conference Room, Module 00, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Speaker: Annica Black-Schaffer, Department of Physics and Astronomy; Materials Theory. Uppsala University, Sweden.
Altermagnets break spin-degeneracy, as in a ferromagnet, but with a momentum dependent spin splitting resulting in zero net magnetization, as in antiferromagnets. Due to this unique magnetization, altermagnets also produce intriguing possibilities for other ordered phases of matter. Magnetism and superconductivity are two of the most celebrated quantum phases of matter and usually have a ‘friend-foe’ dichotomous relation. Combining superconductivity with altermagnetism turns out to open for new exceptional possibilities. In this talk I will show several novel effects occurring when superconductivity appears in altermagnets, including finite momentum pairing, field-induced superconductivity, and a perfect superconducting diode effect, as well as demonstrate constraints on the superconducting pairing due to the altermagnetism. If time permits, I will also demonstrate the possibility for orbital-selective altermagnetism in the unconventional superconductor Sr2RuO4.
