Scientists Discover Altermagnetism: A Third Fundamental Form of Magnetism

A Century-Old Scientific Paradigm Overturned

Physicists have identified altermagnetism, a previously unknown category of magnetic behavior that fundamentally challenges a classification system that has remained essentially unchanged for over 100 years. The discovery represents only the third fundamental form of collinear magnetism, joining ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism as core categories. Three researchers—Jairo Sinova of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Libor Šmejkal, and Tomas Jungwirth of the Czech Academy of Sciences—have been awarded the 2026 Europhysics Prize for this breakthrough, recognized by the European Physical Society's Condensed Matter Division as one of Europe's most prestigious honors in the field.

The achievement is particularly striking because it demonstrates that even mature, well-established scientific disciplines can harbor fundamental surprises. Sinova emphasized that discovering an entirely new magnetic phase after more than a century of study reveals how much remains unknown even in thoroughly explored areas of physics. The theoretical framework for altermagnetism emerged from eight years of collaborative research between Sinova's group at Mainz University and Jungwirth's team in Prague, with Šmejkal playing a central role in developing the mathematical foundation during his time as a doctoral and postdoctoral researcher.

How Altermagnetism Differs from Established Magnetic Categories

Traditional magnetic classification divided materials into two types based on how their electron spins align. Ferromagnets maintain a net magnetic alignment, making them useful for countless magnetic memory technologies in widespread use today. Antiferromagnets, by contrast, have opposing magnetic moments that cancel each other out, producing no overall magnetization and exhibiting fundamentally different electronic behavior from ferromagnets.

Altermagnetism introduces a remarkable hybrid category. Like antiferromagnets, altermagnetic materials have magnetic moments that completely cancel, resulting in zero net magnetization. Yet unlike antiferromagnets, their electrons can display properties previously thought to be exclusive to ferromagnets. This unusual combination creates a unique opportunity: altermagnets can support electrical currents with strongly polarized electron spins while simultaneously exhibiting extremely rapid magnetic dynamics. These characteristics could prove invaluable for developing a new generation of spintronic devices that operate faster and more efficiently than current technologies.

The implications extend far beyond electronics alone. Altermagnetism has revealed unexpected connections to major contemporary areas of physics, including topological phenomena, unconventional superconductivity, and quantum materials characterized by strong electron interactions. It represents a previously unrecognized symmetry class of matter, suggesting that the fundamental organizational principles of magnetic materials are richer than previously understood.

The Research Path to Discovery

The breakthrough did not emerge suddenly but rather developed through systematic investigation of unusual electrical transport behaviors in magnetic materials. Early advances included predictions of the crystal anomalous Hall effect, a phenomenon involving electricity flow through certain crystal structures. Researchers initially viewed these unexpected behaviors as isolated curiosities specific to individual materials. However, Sinova's team eventually recognized that these seemingly disparate phenomena were connected by a deeper principle involving symmetries of electron spins.

A pivotal moment arrived in 2022 when the team published a comprehensive symmetry classification of altermagnetism and identified hundreds of candidate materials that could potentially exhibit the property. This theoretical prediction then motivated experimental teams worldwide to test whether altermagnetism actually existed in real materials. Researchers employed multiple complementary experimental approaches, including angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), which reveals electron behavior inside materials, and measurements of electrical transport. These experiments confirmed altermagnetic behavior in several materials, providing experimental validation of the theoretical predictions.

Rapid Growth of a New Research Field

Since its theoretical foundation was established, altermagnetism has rapidly become one of the most active areas of condensed matter physics. Hundreds of scientific papers have appeared within just a few years, with research efforts expanding across Europe, North America, and Asia. The discovery has become a prominent topic at international physics conferences, attracting sustained attention from the global scientific community. This explosive growth demonstrates how a single fundamental insight can reshape an entire field and inspire widespread investigation into both basic properties and practical applications.

The Europhysics Prize, established in 1975, recognizes major advances in condensed matter physics that significantly advance scientific understanding, with preference for research conducted in Europe. The 2026 award ceremony occurred in September at the 32nd General Conference of the European Physical Society Condensed Matter Division in Graz, Austria, formally celebrating this transformation in understanding magnetic matter and opening new directions for quantum physics and future electronic technologies.