Scientists have uncovered a previously unknown form of magnetism, overturning an understanding of magnetic behavior that had stood for more than a century. The discovery, known as altermagnetism, has revealed a third fundamental category of collinear magnetism and opened new possibilities for quantum materials, advanced electronics, and future computing technologies.
Three physicists responsible for the breakthrough have been named recipients of the 2026 Europhysics Prize, one of Europe’s most prestigious honors in condensed matter physics. The European Physical Society (EPS) Condensed Matter Division selected Professor Jairo Sinova of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Dr. Libor Šmejkal, and Professor Tomas Jungwirth for their work establishing altermagnetism as a distinct form of magnetic order alongside ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism.
"This award recognizes a fundamental discovery that challenged one of the most established paradigms in condensed matter physics," said Professor Jairo Sinova, Director of the Spin Phenomena Interdisciplinary Center (SPICE) at Mainz University. "Discovering that an entirely new magnetic phase had remained hidden for more than one hundred years demonstrates that even the most mature scientific fields can still hold fundamental surprises."
The breakthrough emerged from years of close collaboration 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, who also maintained an affiliation in Prague, spent eight transformative years at Mainz between 2016 and 2024, first pursuing doctoral research and later working as a postdoctoral scientist in Sinova’s group.
During that period, Šmejkal played a leading role in developing the complex theoretical framework behind altermagnetism. By combining advanced mathematical approaches to spatial and spin symmetry with the principles of spintronics—a rapidly growing field that studies how the intrinsic spin of electrons can be utilized in electronic devices—the researchers identified a previously unrecognized pattern of magnetic behavior that bridges the gap between different magnetic classes.
Their groundbreaking theoretical predictions quickly captured the attention of experimental teams around the world. Subsequent measurements of electronic properties and electrical transport across multiple material systems provided robust evidence supporting the new magnetic classification. Since its initial identification, altermagnetism has grown into one of the most dynamic and active areas of modern condensed matter physics, with research efforts expanding rapidly across Europe, North America, and Asia.
A Third Form of Magnetism Rewrites Physics
For more than 100 years, physicists generally divided collinear magnets into two fundamental categories: ferromagnets and antiferromagnets. This binary view formed the bedrock of modern solid-state physics and dictated how scientists approached magnetic materials for generations.
Ferromagnets are characterized by an overall magnetic alignment that produces a strong net magnetization. These materials are utterly essential to many magnetic memory and data storage technologies used in modern computing today. In conventional antiferromagnets, opposing magnetic moments perfectly cancel one another out, leaving no overall net magnetization and producing electronic behavior that is vastly different from that of ferromagnets.
Altermagnetism introduces a surprising and elegant third possibility that shatters this long-held binary paradigm.
Like traditional antiferromagnets, altermagnets have internal magnetic moments that cancel out globally, resulting in no net external magnetization. However, unlike conventional antiferromagnets, their microscopic electronic structures allow their electrons to exhibit properties and symmetries previously associated exclusively with ferromagnets.
This unusual and powerful combination allows altermagnets to support electrical currents carrying strongly polarized electron spins while simultaneously displaying extremely rapid magnetic dynamics. Those distinct characteristics could make them immensely valuable for a completely new generation of spintronic devices, potentially advancing the operational speed, energy efficiency, and storage capabilities of future information technologies far beyond current silicon-based limits.
The significance of this discovery extends well beyond electronics and data storage. Altermagnetism represents a previously unrecognized symmetry class of matter and has revealed unexpected, deep connections to several major areas of modern theoretical and experimental physics, including topological phenomena, unconventional superconductivity, and quantum materials characterized by strong interactions between electrons.
How Scientists Discovered Altermagnetism
The path toward this monumental discovery began with deep theoretical investigations into unusual ways that electricity moves through complex magnetic materials. Among the early advances that hinted at a deeper mystery was the prediction of the crystal anomalous Hall effect, a subtle phenomenon involving electrical transport in certain specific crystal structures.
Initially, these unexpected behaviors might have appeared to be merely unusual, isolated features of individual materials or mathematical anomalies. However, the researchers eventually recognized that they were part of a much broader, unified principle involving the intricate symmetries of electron spins on a microscopic level.
Rather than representing isolated exceptions to established magnetic behavior, these materials belonged to an entirely different, previously overlooked magnetic category governed by unique symmetry rules.
A major milestone in this journey came in 2022, when the research team published a comprehensive symmetry classification of altermagnetism and successfully identified hundreds of distinct materials that could potentially exhibit this hidden phase.
Experimental physicists subsequently tested these bold theoretical predictions using several complementary, high-precision methods. These included angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), a powerful technique that reveals how electrons behave and distribute themselves inside materials, alongside advanced measurements of electrical transport and magnetic response.
The experimental results definitively confirmed altermagnetic behavior in several key materials, helping solidify the new classification within the broader scientific community.
Interest in the discovery has since expanded at an extraordinary pace. Hundreds of scientific papers have been published within just a few years, and altermagnetism has rapidly become a prominent, highly anticipated subject at major international physics conferences. The growing global research community is now actively investigating both its fundamental physical properties and its vast potential technological applications.
Discovery Earns Prestigious 2026 Europhysics Prize
The Europhysics Prize recognizes major, career-defining advances in condensed matter physics, a field concerned with understanding the physical properties and collective behavior of matter in solid and liquid states. Established in 1975 by the European Physical Society, the award honors ground-breaking discoveries that have significantly advanced scientific understanding, with a substantial share of the recognized research traditionally conducted within European institutions.
The 2026 prize specifically recognizes the vital theoretical and experimental advances that established altermagnetism as a new fundamental form of collinear magnetic order, changing the way physicists view the material world.
The official award ceremony was scheduled to take place in September 2026 at the 32nd General Conference of the European Physical Society Condensed Matter Division (CMD32) in Graz, Austria, bringing together leading researchers from across the continent to celebrate the milestone.
The Scientists Behind the Breakthrough
Professor Jairo Sinova is a distinguished physics professor at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany and serves as the director of the university’s Spin Phenomena Interdisciplinary Center. His extensive research investigates advanced magnetism, spintronics, and complex quantum materials.
Dr. Libor Šmejkal conducted much of the crucial, intensive theoretical work that led to the identification of altermagnetism while working at Mainz University from 2016 to 2024. His current professional affiliations include the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, and the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Professor Tomas Jungwirth is prominently affiliated with the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the University of Nottingham. He has collaborated extensively and fruitfully with Sinova’s Mainz research team over many years, playing a central role in shaping the theoretical foundations of altermagnetism.
Together, their collaborative work has revealed a fundamental property of magnetic matter that successfully escaped human recognition for more than a century, opening an entirely new and promising direction for research into quantum physics and future electronic technologies.
