A group of scientists from the Paul Scherrer Institute, located in Switzerland, managed to measure, for the first time in history, a new type of magnetism: altermagnets.
This is an important discovery in the sense that this new magnetism can create new types of magnetic computers and increase the capacity of hard drive storage.
What are altermagnets and how do they work
Altermagnets have properties of various types of magnetism Credit@GerdAltmann/Pixabay
Altermagnets have a mixture of the properties of the various classes of existing magnets. Until the 20th century, only one type of permanent magnet was known to exist, the ferromagnet, which is used in the magnets that we usually attach to refrigerators or compasses.
In the 1930s, another type of magnetism called antiferromagnetism was discovered, which, unlike ferromagnets, have no external fields and have internal magnetic properties.
In 2019, scientists detected another type of magnetism, altermagnetism composed of alterímas. As already mentioned, this magnetism turned out to have properties of other already known magnetisms, which initially confused experts in the field of Physics a little.
Now with the measurements taken, the group of scientists can prove that altermagnets are freer to move than antiferromagnets and that they also do not have external magnetic fields like ferromagnets.
More powerful computers and more capacity storage
Physics laws aside, scientists claim that this discovery can be applied in the area of technology. All because, according to Richard Evans from the British University of York, it is possible to use altermagnets to make “magnetic devices that do not interfere with each other”.
In practice, this means that through altermagnets it is possible to increase the storage capacity on hard drives. Currently, these units contain ferromagnetic material that is too compacted to the point of creating interference. The altermagnets could be compacted without suffering such consequences.
On the other hand, this new type of magnetism could also be applied to computers to carry out measurements and calculations. Altermagnets could pave the way for PCs that have a single processor and memory unit.