Magnetic monopoles detected in a real magnet
Researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) have, in cooperation with colleagues from Dresden (Germany), St. An-drews (UK), La Plata (Argentina) and Oxford (UK), for the first time observed magnetic monopoles and how they emerge in a real material. They publish this result in the journal Science within the Science Express web site on 3. September. Magnetic monopoles are hypothetical particles proposed by physicists that carry a single magnetic pole, either
- A new way to control the magnetic properties of rare earth elementsThe special properties of rare earth magnetic materials are due to the electrons in the 4f shell. Until now, the magnetic properties of 4f electrons were considered almost impossible to control. Now, a team from HZB, Freie Universität Berlin and other institutions has shown for the first time that laser pulses can influence 4f electrons- and thus change their magnetic properties. The discovery, which was made through experiments at EuXFEL and FLASH, opens up a new way to data storage with rare earth elements.
- Spintronics: A new path to room temperature swirling spin texturesA team at HZB has investigated a new, simple method at BESSY II that can be used to create stable radial magnetic vortices in magnetic thin films.
- Neutron experiment at BER II reveals new spin phase in quantum materialsNew states of order can arise in quantum magnetic materials under magnetic fields. An international team has now gained new insights into these special states of matter through experiments at the Berlin neutron source BER II and its High-Field Magnet. BER II served science until the end of 2019 and has since been shut down. Results from data at BER II are still being published.