Tiny particles, huge potential: Scientists discover new type of quasiparticle present in all magnetic materials

Researchers recently made a breakthrough discovery at the nanoscale. It is a new type of quasiparticle that is present in all magnetic materials, regardless of strength or temperature. These new properties challenge what researchers previously knew about magnetism and show that magnetism is not as static as once believed.

“Emergent topological quasiparticle dynamics in contracted nanomagnets” was published in Physical Review Research. Researchers include Deepak Singh and Carsten Ulrich from the University of Missouri College of Arts and Sciences, along with their student teams and postdoctoral fellows.

“We’ve all seen bubbles form in sparkling water and other carbonated beverage products,” said Ulrich, curatorial distinguished professor of physics and astronomy. “We found that quasiparticles are like bubbles and can move freely around at surprisingly fast speeds.”

This discovery could help develop a new generation of electronics that are faster, smarter and more energy efficient. But first, scientists need to determine how this discovery will affect those processes.

One area of ​​science that could directly benefit from researchers’ discoveries is spintronics, or “spin electronics.” While traditional electronics uses an electron’s charge to store and process information, spintronics uses the electron’s natural spin. This property is essentially related to the quantum nature of electrons, Ulrich said.

For example, a cell phone battery can last hundreds of hours on a single charge when powered by spintronics, said Singh, an associate professor of physics and astronomy who specializes in spintronics.

“The nature of the spin of these electrons is responsible for the magnetic phenomenon,” Singh said. “Electrons have two properties: charge and spin. So instead of using the traditional charge, we use the property of rotation, or rotation, because spin consumes much less energy than charge. , more efficient.”

Shin’s team, including former graduate student Jiason Guo, was in charge of the experiment, drawing on Shin’s years of expertise in magnetic materials to refine its properties. Ulrich’s team, along with postdoctoral researcher Daniel Hill, analyzed Shin’s results and created a model to explain the unique behavior observed with the powerful spectrometer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The current study builds on the team’s previous work published in Nature Communications, where they first reported this dynamic behavior at the nanoscale level.