Physicists from the University of Nottingham have made a groundbreaking discovery, confirming the existence of a new type of magnetism known as altermagnetism for the first time. The results of their study, published in Nature magazine, reveal the potential to create entirely new memory devices that could operate a thousand times faster than current analogues.
In altermagnetism, magnetic moments in the material are oriented in an unconventional way, with each moment positioned opposite to its neighbor. This unique arrangement results in a twist in the crystalline lattice, causing the structure to rotate relative to neighboring regions.
Project leader, Professor Peter Wedley, likened this phenomenon to antiferromagnetism, where atomic magnetic moments cancel each other out in opposite directions. However, in the case of altermagnetism, there is a twist structure that introduces new dynamics to the magnetic moments’ interaction, altering the material’s symmetry.
This discovery was made possible by the use of the Max IV facility in Sweden, which houses a synchrotron capable of generating x-rays. By directing x-rays onto the magnetic material, electrons are emitted from the surface, allowing researchers to capture the magnetic structure with a specialized microscope at nanometer resolution.
Lead researcher Oliver Amin explained how the team successfully correlated theoretical predictions with the actual properties of alternative materials, paving the way for their practical application.
This breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize the functioning of computer memory and microelectronics devices. By substituting traditional magnetic materials with alternative ones, not only can operating speeds be vastly improved, but also the reliance on rare and toxic heavy elements in ferromagnetic component production can be reduced, mitigating carbon dioxide emissions.
One of the key advantages of altermagnetism is its ability to combine the best attributes of ferromagnetics and antiferromagnetics, resulting in faster digital memory operations with lower energy consumption and durability.