Team

22.09.2026 EPS Europhysics Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Condensed Matter Physics announced

The 2026 Europhysics Prize of the EPS Condensed Matter Division is awarded to Dr. Libor Šmejkal, Prof. Jairo Sinova, and Prof. Tomas Jungwirth for the discovery of altermagnetism, a third elementary magnetic class that combines ferromagnetic-like and antiferromagnetic-like characteristics considered for a century as mutually exclusive, and characteristics unprecedented in either of the two conventional magnetic classes.

The Prize will be presented on Tuesday September 22nd 2026, during the Awards Session of the 32nd General Conference of the EPS Condensed Matter Division (CMD32), in Graz organised jointly with the Austrian Physical Society. The Europhysics Prize has been awarded since 1975 (this is the 42nd edition) and is one of Europe’s most prestigious prizes in the field of condensed matter physics. It is awarded in recognition of a prominent and well-identifiable discovery, breakthrough, or contribution to condensed matter physics, by one or more individuals, a contribution that, in the opinion of the selection committee, represents scientific excellence. The award recognizes research for which a significant portion of the work was carried out in Europe. A summary of all the prize editions can be found here.

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29.04.2025 Unlocking Unconventional Magnetism for IT Devices in Germany

Jairo Sinova 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.

You can find the press release under Innoreports.
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08.11.2024 Tobias Wagner succesfully defends his PhD thesis

We congratulate our colleague Tobias Wagner, who successfully defended his PhD on "Interface Effects in Antiferromagnetic-Ferromagnetic Hybrid Systems".  He there studied how domains, topological structures and dynamics are connected in systems of antiferromagnets and ferromagnets grown on each other. His work lead to multiple publications, namely

Imprinting of Antiferromagnetic Vortex States in NiO-Fe Nanostructures

Revealing the ultra-fast domain wall motion in Mn2Au through permalloy capping

Coupling of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic spin dynamics in Mn2Au/NiFe thin-film bilayers.

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Atasi Chakraborty

Understanding the electronic structure of solids plays a pivotal role in exploring the fascinating physical properties of quantum materials and their potential technological applications. My research focuses on comprehending the emergence of a plethora of exotic properties resulting from the intricate interplay between various factors: the kinetic energy of electrons governed by the band-width (W), Coulomb repulsion (U), spin-orbit coupling (SOC) strength (λ), and lattice degrees of freedom. To achieve this, I employ two complementary theoretical approaches: the state-of-the-art density functional theory (DFT) and low-energy model Hamiltonians. Furthermore, I am deeply intrigued by the transformations of physical properties of anti-ferro- and altermagnets in the presence of external perturbations, such as mechanical deformations, magnetic or electric fields, heat, and light. This area currently constitutes a significant focus of my research, promising exciting prospects for advancing our understanding of quantum materials and their practical applications.

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Venkata Krishna Bharadwaj

Data has become the new oil today, with their increasing demands for faster, denser, non-volatile, and low-power-consuming technologies. In this context, spintronics, which employs both charge and spin degrees of freedom, has provided some novel concepts to further state of art in this regard. Magnetic skyrmion being the new protagonist in the arena, has attracted a lot of research interest over the last decade, owing to their topological robustness and very low currents to manipulate them.

My research focuses on magnetic skyrmioms in in-plane ferromagnets and synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF). Recently, we have studied the stability of in-plane skyrmions in collinear ferromagnets and in-plane SAFs. We have also looked at current-driven dynamics and external field-induced excitations of these in-plane skyrmions. We use both analytical and micromagnetic simulations in our research.

 

Publications

 

 

Arxiv

'Strain control of band topology and surface states in antiferromagnetic EuCd2As2'.Nayra A Álvarez Pari, VK Bharadwaj, R Jaeschke-Ubiergo, A Valadkhani, Roser Valentí, L Šmejkal, Jairo Sinova (2023)

Arxiv

'Direct observation of altermagnetic band splitting in CrSb thin films'. Sonka Reimers, Lukas Odenbreit, Libor Smejkal, Vladimir N Strocov, Procopios Constantinou, Anna Birk Hellenes, Rodrigo Jaeschke Ubiergo, Warlley H Campos, Venkata Krishna Bharadwaj, Atasi Chakraborty, Thiboud Denneulin, Wen Shi, Rafal E Dunin-Borkowski, Suvadip Das, Mathias Kläui, Jairo Sinova, Martin Jourdan (2023)

Arxiv

'Supercell Altermagnets'. R. Jaeschke-Ubiergo, V.K. Bharadwaj, L. Šmejkal, Jairo Sinova (2023)

Arxiv

'Homochiral antiferromagnetic merons, antimerons and bimerons realized in synthetic antiferromagnets'. Mona Bhukta, Takaaki Dohi, Venkata Krishna Bharadwaj, Ricardo Zarzuela, Maria-Andromachi Syskaki, Michael Foerster, Miguel Angel Niño, Jairo Sinova, Robert Frömter, Mathias Kläui . (2023)

Physical Review B

'Stability and dynamics of in-plane skyrmions in collinear ferromagnets'. Ricardo Zarzuela, Venkata Krishna Bharadwaj, Kyoung-Whan Kim, Jairo Sinova, and Karin Everschor-Sitte. (2020)

 

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Rodrigo Jaeschke Ubiergo

I am currently interested in understanding the spin transport properties of magnetic materials. In particular, I have been studying spin splitter currents, which are a non-relativistic, spin-conserving effect, and one of the key signatures of altermagnetism. In materials like RuO2, it has been shown that the spin splitter current could allow extremely efficient charge-to-spin conversion, with a spin Hall angle of 34 degrees.

In order to find new altermagnetic candidates, which can host exotic spin transport responses, I have been analysing available databases with experimentally confirmed magnetic materials.  I have performed a symmetry analysis of the spin space group of around 2000 magnetic materials and sorted them according to their non-relativistic symmetry. This has allowed us to target around 200 altermagnetic candidates in a very systematic way.

 

Non-relativistic spin current responses on each magnetic collinear phase. Spin splitter current is only possible in Altermagnets.
Responsse of a d-wave altermagnet under the effect of an electric field applied in different directions. (left and center) Spin polarized current with opposite spin polarization. (right) Spin splitter current.

 

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