Phases with spontaneous time-reversal ( T ) symmetry breaking are sought after for their anomalous physical properties, low-dissipation electronic and spin responses, and information-technology applications. Recently predicted altermagnetic phase features an unconventional and attractive combination of a strong T -symmetry breaking in the electronic structure and a zero or only weak-relativistic magnetization. In this work, we experimentally observe the anomalous Hall effect, a prominent representative of the T -symmetry breaking responses, in the absence of an external magnetic field in epitaxial thin-film Mn5Si3 with a vanishingly small net magnetic moment. By symmetry analysis and first-principles calculations we demonstrate that the unconventional d-wave altermagnetic phase is consistent with the experimental structural and magnetic characterization of the Mn5Si3 epilayers, and that the theoretical anomalous Hall conductivity generated by the phase is sizable, in agreement with experiment. An analogy with unconventional d-wave superconductivity suggests that our identification of a candidate of unconventional d-wave altermagnetism points towards a new chapter of research and applications of magnetic phases.

Aix Marseille Univ CNRS CINAM AMUTECH Marseille France

Aix Marseille Univ CNRS IM2NP UMR 7334 Marseille France

Department of Chemical Physics and Optics Faculty of Mathematics and Physics Charles University Ke Karlovu 5 121 16 Prague 2 Czech Republic

Department of Condensed Matter Physics Faculty of Mathematics and Physics Charles University Ke Karlovu 5 121 16 Prague 2 Czech Republic

Department of Physics Texas A and M University College Station Texas USA

Grupo de Investigación en Física Aplicada Departamento de Física Universidad del Norte Barranquilla Colombia

Institut für Festkörper und Materialphysik and Würzburg Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct qmat Technische Universität Dresden 01062 Dresden Germany

Institut für Physik Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz 55128 Mainz Germany

Institute of Physics Czech Academy of Sciences Cukrovarnická 10 162 00 Praha 6 Czech Republic

Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Helmholtzstr 20 01069 Dresden Germany

School of Physics and Astronomy University of Nottingham NG7 2RD Nottingham UK

Univ Grenoble Alpes CNRS CEA Grenoble INP Spintec F 38000 Grenoble France

Universität Konstanz Fachbereich Physik 78457 Konstanz Germany

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