The existence of a new kind of magnetism has been confirmed
Altermagnets, theorised to exist but never before seen, have been measured for the first time and they could help us make new types of magnetic computers
The property [altermagnetism] could boost the storage on computer hard drives, because commercial devices contain ferromagnetic material that is so tightly packed that the material’s external magnetic fields start to see interference – altermagnets could be packed more densely.
I'm not clear on how such a drive would work. Aren't the material's external magnetic fields necessary in order to be able to "read" the data?
I'm guessing they're handwaving away bit detection as a problem to solve later. That's not unreasonable for basic research purposes, really; you could imagine other ways of reading the spin of atoms might be possible.
The original research cited is written in a pretty inaccessible way, so I can't really comment on the usefulness as a store of information yet.
Ended up learning about quantum field theory. Please send help.
