Don't think of a nail pointing to the North Star; don't imagine the magnets of children who repel and attract each other. “Altermagnets” represent a completely different reality, at an almost subatomic level. This new form of magnetism subverts all our usual definitions, promising to expand the limits of digital storage or, even, to create computers based no longer on electric current, but on the mysterious behavior of electronic "spins".
Imagine a world in which the memory of our computers is ten times larger and faster, or in which computing power makes an unthinkable leap forward. This is the direction that the incredible discovery of a team of researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland can take: thealtermagnetism.
An “alternative” magnetism
To understand the importance of this discovery we need to take a step back and briefly (I swear) retrace the history of magnetism. Until the 20th century, it was believed that there was only one type of permanent magnetism: permanent magnetism ferromagnetism, present in objects such as magnets and compass needles. In 1930, the French physicist Louis Néel revealed a second type of magnetism: theantiferromagnetism. In this case, the spins of the electrons inside the material alternate, creating an internal magnetic field that is absent outside.
It took almost 90 years for this discovery to ignite a new, great spark. 2019: A team of researchers predicted (in this study) the existence of a third type of magnetism: thealtermagnetism. In this case, the spins of the electrons behave in an even more complex way, creating a material with unique magnetic properties. And now, five years later, 2024, there is experimental confirmation of his assistance, in this study published by Juraj Krempasky and his team. What comes next?
A future full of possible applications
The experimental confirmation of altermagnetism, obtained by measuring the electronic structure of the manganese telluride crystal, opens up truly exciting scenarios.
1. Larger and faster storage devices: altermagnets could allow the creation of new types of hard disks and flash memories, with storage capacities increased tenfold compared to current technologies.
2. “Spintronic” computers: the use of electron spins instead of electric current could lead to the creation of "spintronic" computers, in which memory and processor merge into a single device.
3. New frontiers for science: the discovery of altermagnetism represents a milestone in the physics of magnetism and opens the way to new research and applications in still unexplored fields.
There remain some fascinating mysteries to unravel
How are altermagnets formed? What are their exact properties? And, above all, how can we make the most of them to revolutionize the world of technology? There are still many questions, but we have a first "answer": altermagnetism represents a revolutionary discovery with the potential to change our future. A future in which the memory of our computers will be almost infinite and the computing power will reach new, unimaginable horizons.
