Inside a crowded electronic circuit, stray magnetic fields can interfere with nearby components. Researchers developing faster, more efficient computers want to use electron spin, a quantum property, to carry information alongside electrical charge. That requires materials that can handle spin without creating unwanted magnetic interference.
University of Central Florida physicist Madhab Neupane and his collaborators have found a promising candidate in Co₁/₄TaSe₂, a layered material containing magnetic cobalt atoms. Their experiments detected signatures of altermagnetism, a form of magnetism that combines useful properties of ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism.
In ferromagnets, including everyday magnets, magnetic moments align in the same direction and produce a magnetic field. In antiferromagnets, opposing magnetic moments cancel one another out, largely avoiding stray fields. Conventional antiferromagnets, however, lack some of the useful electronic properties of ferromagnets, leaving researchers looking for materials that offer both advantages.
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