Researchers have made a huge discovery in materials science – they designed something called the ferromagnetic topological insulator. It’s made from a material family called manganese bismuth telluride and it works without producing any resistance at all. That makes it really special! The amazing thing about this material is its magnetic properties only work if some of the atoms swap places and create a kind of disorder. People reading about this important finding can find out more in Advanced Science magazine.
Unlocking Possibilities
In 2019, a group of scientists led by Anna Isaeva made a big discovery. They made the world’s first ‘antiferromagnetic topological insulator’ out of manganese bismuth telluride (MnBi2Te4). This amazing material can generate its own internal magnetic field and allow electronic components to store and transmit data without any resistance or energy usage. This could make computers more efficient and environmentally friendly which is why researchers are excited about this development and working hard to uncover all its potentials.
Unlocking New Possibilities
A team from ct.qmat has created a magnetic material called MnBi6Te10. In this material, all the manganese atoms have their magnetic moments pointing in the same way, which is different from its predecessor MnBi2Te4 because only the atoms within one layer are magnetically aligned in its case. This small change makes a big difference as MnBi6Te10 creates a stronger and more steady magnetic field than before. Even though it works at a low temperature of -261 degrees Celsius, Professor Vladimir Hinkov explains that this is just the start of development journey for creating computer components. Another cool thing about this material is that the surface can conduct electricity without any losses but the inside doesn’t have this ability.
Four Teams Create Magnetic Insulator, But University of Amsterdam’s Team First to Uncover Ferromagnetic Properties!
The ct.qmat scientists weren’t the only ones trying to make a special magnetic insulator in the laboratory. Many other people from around the world also got involved and started to look for this kind of material too. In 2019, four separate teams actually made it happen and created something called MnBi6Te10. But there was only one lab that showed its ferromagnetic properties – which is what Professor Isaeva’s team from the University of Amsterdam did!
Uncovering the Unexpected
Technology has become an integral part of our lives and is used in various ways. It helps us stay connected with people around us, allows us to access the information we need quickly, and provides entertainment options. Technology can also be used to improve our everyday lives by making tasks easier, reducing manual labor, and helping deliver better educational tools. There are many upsides to technology as it makes life a lot more convenient for everyone.
The chemists at Dresden were exhausted by the time they learned how to make crystalline materials. The discovery they made was astounding – some atoms had to be swapped out and rearranged from their original organization in the crystal. Isaeva explains it this way: when manganese atoms are spread across all crystals, they cause the surrounding manganese atoms to spin around in the same direction. The magnetic order then starts to spread like a disease! Even though it is hard to predict these changes, sometimes this disorder can be very useful – like in MnBi6Te10 which becomes ferromagnetic because of it.
Researchers from TU Dresden, JMU Würzburg and Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research in Dresden worked together to create a revolutionary study. In this research, the materials chemists at TU Dresden created special crystals while Dr. Jorge I. Facio constructed a theory to explain how the ferromagnetic properties of MnBi6Te10 were caused by antisite disorder and its antiferromagnetic counterparts. Lastly, Hinkov’s team at JMU Würzburg made surface measurements to finish off the vital aspects of this project.
Researchers are trying to make magnets work at much higher temperatures than now. They’ve already had a bit of success and managed to get it working at around 70 degrees below zero Celsius. At the same time, they need to also increase the temperature at which strange quantum effects take place – this only starts happening when it is 1-2 degrees below zero Celsius.
A group of scientists recently published an article, called “Intermixing-Driven Surface and Bulk Ferromagnetism in the Quantum Anomalous Hall Candidate MnBi6Te10”. In this paper, they discussed how ferromagnetic materials change when exposed to certain conditions. The article was published on February 17, 2023 in the Advanced Science journal.
ct.qmat is a group that stands out from the rest and represents excellence.
ct.qmat – Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter is a research project set up by Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg and Technische Universität Dresden in 2019. Scientists from 30 different countries on four continents are studying topological quantum materials which behave unexpectedly under very specific conditions, like really cold temperatures, high pressure or strong magnetic fields. This project has been funded by the German Government and it’s the only one of its kind to carry out research simultaneously in two states.
