Phys.org  March 28, 2024 Most macroscopic magnetic phenomena (including magnetic hysteresis) are typically understood classically. An international team of researchers (USA – Caltech, University of Colorado, University of Chicago, University of Tennessee, Canada, Japan, UK) examined the dynamics of a uniaxial rare-earth ferromagnet deep within the quantum regime, so that domain wall motion, and the associated hysteresis, was initiated by quantum nucleation, which then grew into large-scale domain wall motion, that was observable as an unusual form of Barkhausen noise. They found that the “quantum Barkhausen noise” exhibited two distinct mechanisms for domain wall movement, each of which was quantum-mechanical, […]