Introduction to Altermagnetism
Experiments have only recently confirmed the existence of this type of magnetic material, but it's already making waves.
By Jennifer Newton, 2025-10-27T13:34:00+00:00. The author hadn't come across magnonics until reading Rachel Brazil's feature, and altermagnets were equally unfamiliar.
Our knowledge of ferromagnetism stretches back thousands of years, with early civilizations observing it in naturally magnetized minerals like lodestone (magnetite). In ferromagnetic materials, the intrinsic magnetic dipole moments align in parallel, producing a net magnetic field.
Meanwhile, antiferromagnetism is where neighboring magnetic dipole moments align in opposite directions, cancelling each other out.
Altermagnets, which might play a role in that field, were equally unfamiliar to me.
Author's summary: Altermagnetism is a newly confirmed type of magnetic material.