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Scientists Discover Third Form of Magnetism: Chiral Magnetism
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Published in Science and Technology on Monday, December 29th 2025 at 1:00 GMT by earth- 🞛 This publication is a summary or evaluation of another publication
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Beyond North & South: Scientists Uncover a Third Form of Magnetism - And It Could Revolutionize Technology
For centuries, we've understood magnetism in largely two forms: ferromagnetism (think magnets sticking to your fridge) and antiferromagnetism (where magnetic moments align oppositely). Now, scientists have announced the discovery of a third distinct form – chiral magnetism – marking a potentially groundbreaking shift in our understanding of materials science and opening doors for revolutionary technological applications. The finding, detailed in a recent study published in Nature, challenges existing models and offers exciting possibilities for data storage, spintronics, and even quantum computing.
The Earth.com video highlights the work led by researchers at Linköping University in Sweden, who stumbled upon this new form of magnetism while studying thin films of chromium triiodide (CrI₃). Initially, they were investigating its antiferromagnetic properties – a characteristic already known to exist within CrI₃. Antiferromagnetism occurs when neighboring magnetic moments align in opposite directions, effectively cancelling out the overall magnetization. This prevents the material from exhibiting a strong attraction or repulsion like a typical fridge magnet.
However, what the team observed went beyond simple antiferromagnetism. They noticed that the material exhibited a unique twisting pattern within its magnetic order – a “chiral” arrangement. "Chirality," derived from the Greek word for "hand," refers to an object's property of being non-superimposable on its mirror image, like left and right hands. Think of your shoes - a left shoe cannot be perfectly mirrored to become a right shoe. This twisting magnetic order isn’t just about alignment; it creates a kind of “handedness” within the material’s magnetism.
How Chiral Magnetism Differs & Why It's Significant
The crucial difference lies in how this chiral arrangement affects the behavior of electrons and, consequently, the material's interaction with magnetic fields. Traditional ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism are largely symmetrical – they behave similarly regardless of the direction you observe them from. Chiral magnetism, however, breaks this symmetry. The magnetic moments aren’t just aligned; their arrangement creates a directional preference.
As explained in the linked article on Linköping University's website ([ https://www.liu.se/en/news/new-form-of-magnetism-discovered-in-thin-films ]), this chirality leads to a phenomenon called “topological protection.” This means the magnetic order is remarkably stable and resistant to disturbances, even at relatively high temperatures. This stability is crucial because most novel magnetic phenomena are fragile and disappear quickly as temperature rises.
The Role of Van der Waals Forces & Layered Materials
Understanding how this chiral magnetism arises requires delving into the material’s structure. CrI₃ is a layered van der Waals material, meaning it's composed of individual layers held together by weak van der Waals forces (the same forces responsible for static cling). These layered structures are increasingly popular in materials science research because they allow scientists to precisely control the material’s properties through stacking and manipulation of the layers.
The researchers believe that the chiral magnetism in CrI₃ arises from a complex interplay between the electronic structure of chromium and the iodine atoms within each layer, combined with the specific way these layers are stacked. Small changes in the layering – even just a slight twist – can dramatically influence the magnetic order and create or destroy the chiral arrangement. The video emphasizes that this discovery wasn't initially sought; it was an unexpected consequence of investigating other properties of CrI₃.
Potential Applications: From Data Storage to Quantum Computing
The implications of discovering chiral magnetism are far-reaching. The inherent stability and unique behavior of materials exhibiting this form of magnetism offer exciting possibilities across several fields:
- Data Storage: The topological protection makes these materials ideal candidates for next-generation data storage devices. Information could be encoded in the direction of the magnetic chirality, offering increased density and resilience compared to existing technologies. The resistance to disturbances would significantly reduce errors and improve reliability.
- Spintronics: Spintronics leverages not only an electron’s charge but also its intrinsic angular momentum (spin) for information processing. Chiral magnetism could enable new spintronic devices with improved efficiency and functionality.
- Quantum Computing: Certain chiral magnetic states can act as robust qubits – the fundamental units of quantum information. The stability offered by topological protection is critical for maintaining the delicate superposition states required for quantum computation. The video suggests that this discovery opens up avenues to create more stable and practical quantum computers.
Challenges & Future Research
While incredibly promising, the field of chiral magnetism is still in its infancy. Researchers are now focused on:
- Identifying other materials: The initial discovery was made in CrI₃, but scientists are actively searching for other van der Waals materials that exhibit chiral magnetism.
- Understanding the underlying mechanism: A deeper understanding of why and how this chirality arises is crucial for tailoring material properties. More sophisticated theoretical models are being developed to explain the phenomenon.
- Controlling and manipulating the chirality: Researchers aim to develop methods to precisely control the twisting magnetic order, allowing them to engineer materials with specific functionalities.
The discovery of chiral magnetism represents a significant leap forward in our understanding of magnetism. It’s a testament to the power of curiosity-driven research and highlights the potential for unexpected breakthroughs when exploring new frontiers in materials science. As research progresses, we can anticipate even more exciting applications emerging from this fascinating third form of magnetism.
Read the Full earth Article at:
[ https://www.earth.com/video/scientists-discover-third-form-of-magnetism/ ]
