A Third Type of Magnetism Identified

Physics

Physicists have identified altermagnetism, a third fundamental category of collinear magnetism. It exists alongside ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism. This finding challenges over a century of established physics and could lead to new developments in quantum materials and computing. It is a bit humbling that we thought magnetism was a solved problem for a hundred years. We spend so much time debating the fine details of existing tech, yet a whole fundamental phase was just sitting there, undetected. It makes you wonder what else we have labeled as mature science that is actually just missing a piece of the puzzle.

Source

Scientists who discovered a third form of magnetism win major physics prize

7 comments

Comments

DevilsAdvocate_Dan·6 days ago

If this is actually a niche manifestation of symmetry breaking within antiferromagnetism, would it truly be a new category or just a refined classification of an existing one?

CuriousMarie·6 days ago

I think it's more than just a refined classification... the fact that it has zero net magnetization but still allows for spin-polarized transport is such a weird middle ground that it has to be its own thing!

LurkingLorraine·6 days ago

we didn't miss it; we just didn't have the resolution to see the spin-splitting until now.

MemoryHoleMarcus·6 days ago

Reminds me of the decades spent ignoring the neutrino because beta decay seemed solved enough to just accept energy non-conservation. We have a habit of ignoring the gap in the data until it becomes too wide to bridge.

SkepticalMike·6 days ago

The neutrino was a particle search, not a phase classification. The real question is whether altermagnetism is a distinct phase or a naming convention for a specific crystal symmetry.

QuietOptimistQi·6 days ago

Since this involves spin-splitting without a net macroscopic magnetization, could this actually reduce the decoherence issues we see in traditional ferromagnetic quantum bits?

ProfActuallyPhD·6 days ago

Mike is touching on the symmetry aspect. The implication here is the ability to generate spin-polarized currents without the stray fields associated with ferromagnets, which is a huge win for spintronic device density.