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New Material Reveals Third Type of Magnetism
Confirmed
In Short: In a paper published in Nature Communications, a team of physicists created crystals of a material called Co₁/₄TaSe₂, revealing its energetic band structure.
In a paper published in Nature Communications, a team of physicists created crystals of a material called Co₁/₄TaSe₂, revealing its energetic band structure.
Magnetism traditionally comes in two types: ferromagnetism, where magnetic moments align to create a larger magnetic field, and antiferromagnetism, where moments align oppositely, canceling out the field.
Altermagnetism, however, offers a unique balance, potentially combining the best properties of both types.
This discovery could lead to the development of versatile yet thin materials that are crucial for the future of shrinking electromagnetic technologies.
MIT researchers have also engineered bacteria to behave like transistors, creating living “circuit boards” that can be printed onto growth material in a Petri dish.
Meanwhile, Google has launched new laptops combining premium materials like aluminum and carbon fiber with its software and AI features, priced starting at £999/$899.
What this adds
The new type of magnetism, altermagnetism, could potentially revolutionize the way we use magnetic materials in technology.
What's confirmed
- MIT researchers have engineered bacteria to behave like transistors, making it possible to build living “circuit boards” that can be printed onto growth material in a Petri dish.
What's still developing
- Unlike what a certain donut company suggests, the world actually runs on magnetism.
- Surprisingly, scientists have reported doing just that, achieving the first experimental evidence of altermagnetism – a recently confirmed type of magnetism – in a sandwich-like material with numerous future applications.
- They thus revealed the material's energetic band structure, a map of where its electrons can and can't exist.
- Magnetism comes in multiple variations, but two are instantly relatable.
- In ferromagnetism, the magnetic moments (tiny fields) of a material's constituent particles align in a certain direction to create a bigger magnetic field – the classic north-and-south-pole setup of a fridge magnet.
- This squashes the stray fields but also the attractive properties that (literally and figuratively) may make a material useful.
- Google says all five use premium materials including aluminium, magnesium alloy and carbon fibre.
- What happens when a property usually tied to exotic superconductors suddenly shows up in a material long thought to be ordinary?
- Superconducting materials allow electrical current to flow through them with zero resistance once they have been brought down to a specific temperature.
- The two major types of superconducting materials include Type I and Type II.
- While most people find Type I to be easier to understand than Type II, many of the strange phenomena associated with superconductivity occur in Type II materials.