https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altermagnetism
this is an extremely esoteric thing - no net magnetism, but has some possibly-useful properties of atomic spin... useful if you're doing some spintronics, that is. maybe.
"In condensed matter physics, altermagnetism is a type of persistent magnetic state in ideal crystals. Altermagnetic structures are collinear and crystal-symmetry compensated, resulting in zero net magnetisation. Unlike in an ordinary collinear antiferromagnet, another magnetic state with zero net magnetization, the electronic bands in an altermagnet are not Kramers degenerate, but instead depend on the wavevector in a spin-dependent way due to the intrinsic crystal symmetry connecting different magnetic sublattices."
Trecknobabble often makes more sense than Wikipedia, at least within the context of the show.
If you have enough knowledge to understand the article then you don't need it because you understand the field. If you don't it's impenetrable.
Perhaps I'm wrong: are there people out there who learnt something from a Wikipedia page on maths because you fell between the two?
?
Because each half of the net-zero magnet is arranged differently inside the crystal there's still a good way to measure what state it's in. Or something like that, I can see the pretty graph but I don't know what measurement you'd do.
Real crystals have impurities so they are harder to reason about. An ideal crystal is just one where we pretend it's perfect.
> Altermagnetic structures are collinear
The structure is lined up, like the diagrams in the article
> and crystal-symmetry compensated, resulting in zero net magnetisation.
And the alternating lines are symmetrical so they "compensate" for each other and cancel out.
> the electronic bands in an altermagnet are not Kramers degenerate... (etc.)
The spin is different like in the diagram. Ok, that's a bit lame. Anyone else can give a simple but mostly accurate explanation?
> Sell them on the structure. You can talk about it with confidence. Keep it simple. A little something like this, John. Hey. Let me walk you through the Donnelly nut spacing and crack system rim-riding rip configuration. Using a field of half-C sprats, and brass-fitted nickel slits, our bracketed caps, and splay-flexed brace columns vent dampers to dampening hatch depths of one half meter from the damper crown to the spurve plinths. How? Well, we bolster twelve husk nuts to each girldle-jerry, while flex tandems press a task apparatus of ten vertically composited patch-hamplers. Then, pin-flam-fastened pan traps at both maiden-apexes of the jim-joist. A little something like that, Lakeman.