Scientists have identified altermagnetism, a previously unknown form of magnetic ordering that challenges established knowledge about how materials behave magnetically. Three physicists—Professor Jairo Sinova of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Dr. Libor Šmejkal, and Professor Tomas Jungwirth—have been awarded the 2026 Europhysics Prize by the European Physical Society for this breakthrough. The discovery reveals a third category of collinear magnetism, joining ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism as fundamental magnetic classifications.
For more than a century, physicists recognized only two primary forms of magnetic ordering. Ferromagnetic materials display a net magnetization and are commonly used in magnetic memory technologies. Antiferromagnetic materials have opposing magnetic moments that cancel each other, producing no overall magnetization. Altermagnetism shares the zero net magnetization property of antiferromagnets while exhibiting electron behavior previously associated with ferromagnets. This combination enables altermagnets to support polarized electrical currents and display rapid magnetic dynamics, potentially enabling advanced spintronic devices and next-generation computing technologies.
The breakthrough emerged from collaborative work between Sinova’s research group at Mainz University and Jungwirth’s team at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. Šmejkal spent eight years at Mainz between 2016 and 2024, developing the theoretical framework for altermagnetism by combining mathematical approaches to symmetry with spintronics research. A major milestone occurred in 2022 when the team published a comprehensive classification and identified hundreds of materials that could exhibit altermagnetic behavior.
Experimental confirmation followed through multiple independent testing methods, including angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and electrical transport measurements conducted by research teams worldwide. These validations confirmed altermagnetic behavior in several materials and established the new classification experimentally. Since then, hundreds of scientific papers have been published and altermagnetism has become a major topic at international physics conferences, with research efforts expanding across Europe, North America, and Asia.
The discovery carries significance beyond electronics, revealing unexpected connections to topological phenomena, unconventional superconductivity, and quantum materials. The Europhysics Prize, established in 1975, recognizes major advances in condensed matter physics with significant European contributions. The award ceremony took place in September 2026 at the 32nd General Conference of the European Physical Society Condensed Matter Division in Graz, Austria.
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