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Could a New Form of Magnetism Change Computing? October 19, 2026 · 7:12 · With Maya, Alex, and Emma
We share news and stories in clear English to help us understand the world. I’m Maya. Alex is our reporter, and Emma is our columnist.
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Maya Welcome to Slow English FM. This is our round table, where we take one subject and look at how it works and why it may matter. We share news and stories in clear English to help us understand the world. I’m Maya. Alex is our reporter, and Emma is our columnist. Today, we’re asking whether a newly identified kind of magnetism could one day change computing. Maya Alex, let’s begin with the basic idea. What is altermagnetism, and what makes it different from familiar kinds of magnetism? Alex For a long time, physicists often described two main kinds of magnetism. In a ferromagnet, many electron spins point in the same direction. Together, they create an overall magnetic field. In an antiferromagnet, nearby spins point in opposite directions, so their effects cancel out. Altermagnetism has that second feature: opposite spins cancel. But inside the material, the crystal structure lets those spins behave differently from the spins in a standard antiferromagnet. That can split the energy levels of electrons with opposite spins. In plain terms, electrons with different spins can have different energies as they move through the crystal. Maya So it has the cancelling effect of an antiferromagnet, but it can also affect electrons in a way more like a ferromagnet? Alex That’s the useful distinction, yes. The crystal’s arrangement is central. The opposite-spin groups are linked through the way the crystal is turned or arranged, rather than simply through a shift across the crystal. That symmetry can create what physicists call spin-split electronic bands: different energy patterns for electrons of different spins. Emma Each has different properties. Ferromagnets have an overall magnetic field, which can help make and read memory bits. But that field can also affect nearby bits. Some useful effects linked to electron spin have been harder to get from antiferromagnets. Altermagnetism draws interest because it may bring together parts of both sets of properties. Maya Emma, that sounds promising. What has actually been observed so far, rather than proposed as a future use? Emma The idea was formally proposed by physicists in 2022. In 2024, researchers reported direct evidence of the predicted spin splitting in crystals of manganese telluride, a compound made from manganese and tellurium. Another study used polarized X-rays to image tiny magnetic patterns in that material and to manipulate them. Those are important steps in studying and controlling the magnetic state. Maya Alex, there is also a result involving very thin films. What does that add? Alex A 2025 experiment found the characteristic band splitting in thin films of chromium antimonide, including films just 10 nanometres thick. A nanometre is one billionth of a metre. The researchers reported that the splitting remained in these very thin layers. The result matters because thin layers are relevant to making devices on chips. Emma That difference between a promising material and a finished device is important. To use the effect in computing, researchers would need to control it reliably and show that it can store or process information in a practical device. The work on manganese telluride shows that small magnetic patterns can be studied and moved. The chromium antimonide result shows that a related effect can survive in a thin film. Both are pieces of progress. Maya Let’s connect that to computing. What is the possible advantage if researchers can turn these findings into technology? Alex One possible area is spintronics. That means technology that uses the spin of electrons, as well as their electrical charge, to store or process information. Some memory technologies already use spin effects. Researchers are interested in altermagnets because they may provide strong effects for moving or reading spin information. That missing overall field could matter when memory bits are packed close together. In ordinary ferromagnetic memory, magnetic fields from one bit can interfere with nearby bits. Researchers are studying whether altermagnets could help make closely packed bits less vulnerable to that kind of interference. Maya Emma, does the lack of a magnetic field also mean the technology would use less energy? Emma The possible energy benefit comes from how information might be stored and handled, not simply from having no overall field. Researchers are exploring whether spin-based devices could keep information without a continuous flow of electrical charge. If that can be achieved in a useful device, it could reduce some energy loss as heat. Maya So listeners should hear both the reason for the excitement and the distance still to travel. Alex, what is the clearest conclusion from the experiments? Alex Researchers have observed spin splitting in particular materials, and they have examined and controlled magnetic patterns at a very small scale. They have also found the effect in thin chromium antimonide films. Those results give researchers materials and effects to investigate for future devices. Emma My reading is that altermagnetism is interesting because it challenges a simple choice: either have an overall magnetic field or lose some useful spin behavior. It may offer a different combination. The next question is practical: can researchers turn that combination into devices that are reliable, useful, and worth making? The evidence we’ve discussed makes that a live research question. Maya Today, Alex explained how altermagnets combine cancelling spins with spin-dependent behavior inside a crystal, and described the evidence from manganese telluride and thin chromium antimonide films. Emma connected those findings to possible memory and energy uses, while drawing a clear line between laboratory results and future products. This is Maya, with Alex and Emma, for Slow English FM. Thanks for listening.
