Scientists discover new type of magnet | Hacker News Reader

Scientists discover new type of magnet

phys.org

87 pointsdnetesn13 comments

This system is an antiferromagnet, so it does not have a net magnetization, so pretty much all the common applications we think of such as hard drives, motors etc are out the window.

I would say this work falls under the category of a curiosity, as its magnetic order exists at low temperatures and I can't imagine why you'd use such an exotic antiferromagnetic material for room temperature operations.

It's nice that the paper is freely available.

> I would say this work falls under the category of a curiosity

Don't all things fall under this category, until someone finds an use?

https://nationalmaglab.org/education/magnet-academy/history-...

Similarly Heinrich Hertz and radio waves:

"It's of no use whatsoever[...] this is just an experiment that proves Maestro Maxwell was right—we just have these mysterious electromagnetic waves that we cannot see with the naked eye. But they are there."

Referenced article https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08497-3

So its faster switching?

What could this be used for other than hard drives?

More efficient/powerful motors and dynamos? Some kind of persistent ram? Anything else?

The material is an antiferromagnet so there's not net magnetic moment and thus you don't have a magnetization to switch. This is not a material that will find applications in hard drives, motors or anything else that requires a magnetization.

The headline is technically correct, as anything with magnetic order is a magnet, but colloquially we understand magnets as something that can stick to some metals, which requires the magnet to be of ferro/ferrimagnetic order.

This system (USb2) is antiferromagnetic at low temperatures too, so it's not the best choice for applications right off the bat. It's a result that will be of interest mostly to theoreticians of magnetism and low temperature physicists, not so much for the engineers and other scientists with an eye for the applied stuff.

I thought "enhancing the performance of data storage technologies" referred to hard drives? What else would it refer to???

That's what phys.org says but the authors of the paper make no comments whatsoever about applications.

phys.org is reaching quite a bit in making that statement, the wonders of science journalism.

micromotors maybe

I wonder if this is applicable to electric motors? Probably not since the force is described as “unstable” in the article but interesting to think about.

It's not, it's a low temperature antiferromagnet, so there's no net magnetization like in a ferro/ferrimagnet.

I think it's a bit deceitful of the headline to call this a new magnet since most laypeople think of a magnet as something that has a net magnetization, whereas this material, while technically a magnet because it has magnetic order, lacks the one defining characteristic in laypeople's minds: it won't stick to other metals via a magnetic field.

Too bad it's not a magnetic monopole, if those existed they'd be so fun to play with :)

Check out this new item in the toy box. [1]

[1] https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/01/funky-mirror-turns-e...

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