A well-known iron-based magnet is also a potential quantum information material

Phys.org  January 13, 2022
For quantum information processing the strongest-performing permanent magnets contain expensive rare-earth metals magnets. Researchers at the Iowa State University scanned vast number of iron-based permanent magnets and established that lanthanum-based hexaferrites show an advantage over conventional samarium-based hexaferrites. They identified LaFe12O19 as an excellent candidate for a gap magnet (iron-based permanent magnet). It is an excellent wide-bandgap semiconductor, can withstand higher voltages, frequencies, and temperatures. They discovered a new quantum state in this material, which strongly locks the magnetization along a fixed direction in the crystal, it could host other rare earths possessing nontrivial localized electronic states, including erbium that is central to fiber-optic communications. These types of localized states are under worldwide exploration to connect signals in quantum computers with those traveling in the fiber-optic cables essential to modern telecommunications… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE 

(Left) Crystal structure of M-type hexaferrite… Credit: Phys. Rev. Materials 5, 094415, 30 September 2021