A new class of magnetism called altermagnetism has been imaged for the first time in a new study. The findings could lead to the development of new magnetic memory devices with the potential to increase operation speeds of up to a thousand times.
Altermagnetism is a distinct form of magnetic order where the tiny constituent magnetic building blocks align antiparallel to their neighbours but the structure hosting each one is rotated compared to its neighbours.
The image at the top of the page is from one of the figures provided in the research paper this article discusses. But the reason it’s difficult to imagine is because the concept isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. Here’s one of the helpful figures:
This does a great job showing how they’re both antiparallel and rotating in different directions, as well as how it looks when scaled up.
Thanks! That’s exactly what I was looking for.