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Jairo Sinova of Mainz University to coordinate a new Priority Program for fundamental and applied research into information technology based on altermagnetism
Professor Jairo Sinova of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) will be coordinating a new Priority Program in the field of condensed matter physics that will be dealing with unconventional magnetism. The Priority Program will involve fundamental and applied research in the field of unconventional magnetic systems to develop IT components or devices that will reach the technical limits of physical viability in terms of speed, storage density, and efficiency. The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved the establishment of the Priority Program on "Unconventional Magnetism: Beyond the s-wave magnetism paradigm" and will be providing around EUR 8 million in funding over an initial period of three years. The project is to be launched in 2026.
New concept of "teramagnetic technology"
"We are looking forward to the opportunity of collaborating closely with other excellent magnetism researchers in this future-oriented scientific field. Together we will strive to go beyond the current limitations imposed by standard magnetic systems," stated Professor Jairo Sinova of the JGU Institute of Physics. The project will build on the latest findings on altermagnetism and focus on the development of unconventional non-collinear antiferromagnets. This will allow the limitations imposed by conventional ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism to be overcome. This will result in a new concept of "teramagnetic technology," as it is called by Sinova and his team. It involves the use of light at terahertz frequencies to manipulate the magnetic properties of materials, coupled with the prospect of achieving an improvement in the speed and efficiency of operation of IT systems that will represent an increase by a factor of 1,000 in comparison with those of current systems.
"Considering the pioneering role of German research teams in the discovery of altermagnetism and their efforts in the area of unconventional magnetism in general, there can be no doubt that this Priority Program has been set up at exactly the right time," emphasized Sinova. The objective is to bring together Germany-based expert teams working in the fields of condensed matter, material science, and engineering, who share the desire to fully understand, control, and ultimately functionalize unconventional magnetism. This in turn is expected to form the basis for a future teramagnetic information technology concept.
DFG Priority Program involving interdisciplinary collaboration across different locations
The DFG Priority Program is a form of strategic research funding aiming to promote work on topics expected to have a significant impact on a specific field of science or the humanities. This impact can be achieved by both discovering innovative areas of research as well as by rethinking known areas, working on them from a new perspective or based on a novel approach. In addition, Priority Programs are characterized by the interdisciplinary and multi-location collaboration of the researchers involved.
Individual invitations for application to work on recently approved Priority Programs will be published by the German Research Foundation in the coming months to encourage interested researchers to join the various research groups. The DFG will review the academic quality and scientific objective of the applications. Priority Programs receive funding for a period of six years.
Mainz-based researchers predicted and experimentally confirmed the existence of altermagnetism as a third form of magnetism
In 2021, a research team at Mainz University postulated altermagnetism as a third fundamental type of magnetism. Only three years later, in 2024, the researchers were able to provide experimental evidence of this type of magnetism. Altermagnets combine the advantages of ferromagnets and antiferromagnets that were previously thought to be fundamentally incompatible. The drivers of this discovery were Professor Jairo Sinova and Dr. Libor Šmejkal. Sinova came to Mainz from Texas A&M University in 2014 with an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship. Here he was appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics with his main research focus on electronic and magnetic properties of condensed material. He is recognized as an established expert in the field of magnetism and the use of magnetic properties in the development of new microelectronic components. From 2020 to 2024, Dr. Libor Šmejkal was research team leader in the Sinova group at the JGU Institute of Physics. He has been an independent research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPI-PKS) in Dresden since 2024.
Images:
https://download.uni-mainz.de/presse/08_physik_komet_inspire_spp.jpg
Electrons deflected by an unconventional anomalous Hall effect in an altermagnetic crystal of ruthenium oxide
Ill./©: Libor Šmejkal and Matthias Greber
Related links:
• https://www.sinova-group.physik.uni-mainz.de/ – Interdisciplinary Spintronics Research Group (INSPIRE)
• https://www.spice.uni-mainz.de/ – Spin Phenomena Interdisciplinary Center (SPICE)
• https://www.blogs.uni-mainz.de/fb08-iph-eng/ – JGU Institute of Physics
• https://www.pks.mpg.de/de/fqm/people – Dr. Libor Šmejkal at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPI-PKS), Dresden
• https://www.dfg.de/en/research-funding/funding-opportunities/programmes/coordina... – DFG Priority Programs
Read more:
• https://press.uni-mainz.de/science-lists-the-discovery-of-altermagnetism-as-scie... – press release "Science lists the discovery of altermagnetism as scientific breakthrough in physics in 2024" (27 Jan. 2025)
• https://press.uni-mainz.de/good-prospects-for-altermagnets-in-spin-based-electro... – press release "Good prospects for altermagnets in spin-based electronics" (13 March 2025)
• https://press.uni-mainz.de/scientists-directly-observed-altermagnetism/ – press release "Scientists directly observed altermagnetism" (19 Feb. 2024)
• https://press.uni-mainz.de/altermagnetism-experimentally-demonstrated/ – press release "Altermagnetism experimentally demonstrated" (15 Feb. 2024)
• https://press.uni-mainz.de/discovery-of-unconventional-hall-effect-in-an-alterma... – press release "Discovery of unconventional Hall effect in an altermagnet" (4 May 2023)
• https://press.uni-mainz.de/german-research-foundation-promotes-outstanding-resea... – press release "German Research Foundation promotes outstanding research at Mainz University by approving a new collaborative research center in materials sciences" (4 June 2020)
• https://www.magazine.uni-mainz.de/we-need-to-get-out-of-our-comfort-zone/ – JGU Magazine: "'We need to get out of our comfort zone'" (25 Jan. 2019)
• https://press.uni-mainz.de/mainz-university-opens-spin-phenomena-interdisciplina... – press release "Mainz University opens Spin Phenomena Interdisciplinary Center to accelerate spin research" (22 April 2015)
• https://press.uni-mainz.de/jairo-sinova-and-stuart-parkin-are-awarded-alexander-... – press release "Jairo Sinova and Stuart Parkin are awarded Alxander von Humboldt Professorships" (8 May 2014)
• https://press.uni-mainz.de/jairo-sinova-receives-erc-funding-to-develop-new-spin... – press release "Jairo Sinova receives ERC funding to develop new spintronics concepts" (22 Jan. 2014)
Professor Dr. Jairo Sinova
Interdisciplinary Spintronics Research Group (INSPIRE)
Institute of Physics
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
55099 Mainz, GERMANY
phone: +49 6131 39-23340
e-mail: sinova@uni-mainz.de
https://www.sinova-group.physik.uni-mainz.de/team/jairo-sinova/
Electrons deflected by an unconventional anomalous Hall effect in an altermagnetic crystal of ruthen ...
ill./©: Libor Šmejkal and Matthias Greber
Merkmale dieser Pressemitteilung:
Journalisten, Wissenschaftler, jedermann
Elektrotechnik, Informationstechnik, Physik / Astronomie
überregional
Forschungsprojekte, Wissenschaftspolitik
Englisch
Electrons deflected by an unconventional anomalous Hall effect in an altermagnetic crystal of ruthen ...
ill./©: Libor Šmejkal and Matthias Greber
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