Researchers have found the first new type of magnet in nearly a century. Now, these strange "altermagnets" could help us build an entirely new type of computer
It seems really weird complicated but what I could gather is it’s third sort of magnet with alternating electron spin. Your standard fridge magnet the electrons all spin in the same direction so that it’s pulled, for example, towards your fridge. These new magnets have no outward macro magnetism because the fields all cancel each other out. We made a magnet that doesn’t act like a magnet.
So looking at it further, the use case is for a “spin faucet” that could be used to rapidly control the spin polarization of an electric current. I’m not really familiar with spintronics, but it could have big implications for computing hardware.
It seems really weird complicated but what I could gather is it’s third sort of magnet with alternating electron spin. Your standard fridge magnet the electrons all spin in the same direction so that it’s pulled, for example, towards your fridge. These new magnets have no outward macro magnetism because the fields all cancel each other out. We made a magnet that doesn’t act like a magnet.
Appreciate the explanation. I’m still not totally getting what use it could have if it doesn’t behave like a magnet at all, but that’s a good start
So looking at it further, the use case is for a “spin faucet” that could be used to rapidly control the spin polarization of an electric current. I’m not really familiar with spintronics, but it could have big implications for computing hardware.
so, what’s the meaning of this?
Altermagnetism - if you’d like to try your hand at understanding it.