New third class of magnetism could transform digital memory: Experiment bridges theory and real-life realization

Phys.org  December 11, 2024 The presence of net magnetization limits device scalability and compatibility with phases, such as superconductors and topological insulators. Altermagnetism has been proposed as a solution to these restrictions combined with the antiferromagnetic-like vanishing net magnetization. So far, altermagnetic ordering has been inferred from spatially averaged probes. An international team of researchers (UK, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany) demonstrated nanoscale imaging of altermagnetic states from 100-nanometre-scale vortices and domain walls to 10-micrometre-scale single-domain states in manganese telluride. They combined the time-reversal-symmetry-breaking sensitivity of X-ray magnetic circular dichroism with magnetic linear dichroism to achieve maps of the local altermagnetic […]

Altermagnetism: A new type of magnetism, with broad implications for technology and research

Phys.org  February 14, 2024 Altermagnets have a special combination of the arrangement of spins and crystal symmetries. The spins alternate, as in antiferromagnets, resulting in no net magnetization. Rather than simply canceling out, the symmetries give an electronic band structure with strong spin polarization that flips in direction as you pass through the material’s energy bands resulting in highly useful properties more resemblant to ferromagnets, as well as some completely new properties. An international team of researchers (Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Colombia, UK) has proved the existence of altermagnetism. They provided the confirmation using photoemission spectroscopy and ab initio […]