Revolution in magnetism: New research program started at JGU!

Revolution in magnetism: New research program started at JGU!

The research field of magnetism is facing significant change with the launch of a new Priority Program (SPP) that focuses on the development of unconventional magnetic systems. Prof. Dr. Jairo Sinova from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) coordinates this innovative program, which deals with basic and applied research in this exciting area. The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved the SPP entitled “Unconventional Magnetism: Beyond the Paradigm of S-Wave Magnetism” and is providing around eight million euros for the next three years. The project will officially start in 2026.

The SPP aims to redefine the challenges of information technology and push the boundaries of speed, storage density and efficiency. It is particularly concerned with the development of components and devices based on unconventional magnetism. A prominent concept in this research is “teramagnetic technology,” which could enable speed and efficiency to be increased a thousand-fold over current technologies. This could potentially have revolutionary implications for electronics and digital communications infrastructure.

Alter magnetism as a key technology

A key component of the SPP is research into alter magnetism, a newly discovered third type of magnetism that has been predicted theoretically and confirmed experimentally. Alter magnetism combines the advantages of ferromagnets and antiferromagnets. The magnetic spins of the atoms are alternately aligned, but under the influence of a strong magnetic field. This opens up completely new application possibilities in the areas of electronics and spintronics. The discovery of alter magnetism was postulated by physicists from JGU and the Czech Academy of Sciences in 2019 and characterized as specific magnetic behavior in 2021.

Previously known forms of magnetism, such as ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism, have convincing properties: ferromagnets have spins that are aligned in the same direction and generate an external magnetic field, while antiferromagnets have antiparallel spins and therefore do not produce a measurable external magnetic field. Alter magnets, on the other hand, combine the properties of both categories, resulting in a spin-polarized current. Despite their unique properties, they do not produce an externally measurable magnetic field.

Experimental confirmation and future perspectives

Recently, alter magnetism was confirmed experimentally in the crystalline compound manganese telluride (MnTe), which was previously classified as an antiferromagnet. By using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, electron spin splitting was analyzed, with results consistent with theoretical predictions. This confirmed the existence of altermagnetism and shows that over 200 candidates for altermagnetic behavior have been identified, exhibiting a variety of properties of insulators, semiconductors, metals and superconductors.

The research into alter magnetism and the new priority program is led by important personalities such as Prof. Dr. Jairo Sinova and Dr. Libor Šmejkal led. Sinova has been working at JGU since 2014 and is considered an expert on magnetic properties in microelectronics. Šmejkal, who was part of Sinova's group until 2024, now leads a team at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden. Their work could be the key to advancing the theory and application of magnetism in tomorrow's technology.

Overall, interdisciplinary collaboration between research teams from different areas such as condensed matter, materials science and engineering is at the center of efforts to exploit the potential of unconventional magnetism. Developments in this area could not only expand the fundamentals of physics, but also enable practical applications that promise significant advances in information technology.

For more information on this topic you can read the reports from University of Mainz and Science.de be consulted.