New Scientist: The existence of a new kind of magnetism has been confirmed
New Scientist: The existence of a new kind of magnetism has been confirmed
Altermagnets, theorised to exist but never before seen, have been measured for the first time and they could help us make new types of magnetic computers
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So if I understand correctly, both antiferromagnets and altermagnets can be packed together very tightly, unlike ferromagmets, which makes them potentionally better for use in computers. I didn't really get the advantage altermagnets have compared to antiferromagnets and why they're more suitable for spintronics. I'd appreciate if anyone could ELI5.
Imagine there are two balls, a red and a blue. You want to communicate to your friend rolling the only blue ball to them. In a ferromagnet there are only blue balls, in an antiferromagnet the blue and red balls are glued together and in an altermagnet there are both balls but they go in different directions so you just need to orient yourself correctly.
The antiferromagnet can't be used for spintronics, the ferromagnet can but big magnetic field disturb other parts in a circuit.
Thanks!