A metallic p-wave magnet with commensurate spin helix
Article Date: 22 October 2025
Article URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09633-4
Article Title: A metallic p-wave magnet with commensurate spin helix
Article Image: (not provided)
Summary
The Nature paper reports the experimental discovery and characterisation of a metallic p-wave magnet in a Gd–Ru–Al compound (Gd3(Ru0.95Rh0.05)4Al12 and related crystals). The team combines resonant elastic X-ray scattering, neutron scattering, bulk and device transport, magnetometry and theory to show a commensurate/distorted spin helix that couples to conduction electrons and produces a distinctive p-wave spin-splitting of electronic bands. The work documents domain switching, step-like anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR), and anomalous Hall responses that tie the novel magnetic order to measurable transport signatures. Data are available on Zenodo and code is available from the authors on request.
Key Points
- Experimental identification of a metallic p-wave magnet with a commensurate (but distorted) spin helix using resonant X-ray and neutron scattering.
- The spin helix is elliptically distorted and locked to lattice symmetries, producing a small but finite net magnetisation while preserving key spatial–time symmetries.
- Transport signatures include step-like anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) due to p-wave domain switching and an anomalous Hall conductivity larger than expected from the small net magnetisation alone.
- Device measurements (focused-ion-beam fabricated) reproduce bulk behaviour and reveal amplified AMR in suspended microstructures, enabling multi-directional resistivity probes.
- The authors combine symmetry analysis, ab initio and model calculations to link the helix to p-wave exchange splitting of conduction bands and predict sharp anomalies in Hall response when spin–orbit coupling is weak.
- Datasets are archived on Zenodo (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17035626); source code available from corresponding authors on request.
Content summary
The team grew single crystals and used resonant elastic X-ray scattering at the Gd L2 edge together with elastic neutron scattering to map magnetic satellites and demonstrate a six-fold symmetric set of commensurate magnetic wavevectors. Polarisation analysis fits a distorted spin-helix model (elliptically squeezed into the basal plane). Magnetometry and transport were measured in bulk crystals and in microfabricated devices. AMR measurements reveal step-like switching when rotating the in-plane field, attributed to reorientation of a spin-polarisation vector α between three stable domain configurations. Hall and longitudinal transport show hysteresis tied to p-wave domain textures.
The experimental observations are supported by theoretical work: symmetry analysis and low-energy modelling indicate a p-wave exchange splitting of conduction bands that lifts degeneracies and modifies Fermi surfaces; simulated 1D models including biquadratic interactions explain solitonic states and weak net magnetisation. The paper highlights conditions where weak spin–orbit coupling produces sharp anomalous Hall anomalies and explores implications for electrical detection and control of p-wave order.
Context and relevance
Why this matters: p-wave magnetism is a nonconventional form of spin order that can produce spin-split bands without relying purely on relativistic spin–orbit coupling, tying magnetic textures directly to conduction electrons. Demonstrating a metallic example with clear scattering and transport fingerprints is a major step: it provides an experimental platform for studying nonrelativistic spin-split electronic phases, anomalous Hall/Nernst responses, domain engineering and possible links to topological superconductivity or Majorana physics when proximitised to superconductors.
The result connects to active topics in condensed-matter physics — altermagnetism, anomalous Hall antiferromagnets and unconventional magnet-driven topology — and supplies a well-characterised material and dataset for follow-up experimental and theoretical work. The availability of raw data on Zenodo and the promise of code-on-request make the study highly reproducible.
Author style
Punchy: This is not a quaint materials note — it’s a clear experimental realisation of a new magnetic class with measurable, controllable transport signatures. If you work on spintronics, topological matter or magnetotransport, the technical details and supporting datasets are worth digging into.
Why should I read this?
Because it’s a rare experimental demo of a metallic p-wave magnet with convincing scattering and transport fingerprints — and that means new physics (and device tricks) you can actually measure and manipulate. If you want to know how a spin helix can give weird Hall responses or how domain switching makes stepwise AMR, this paper does the heavy lifting so you don’t have to.