Physicists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have demonstrated a new form of magnetism that could pave the way for a new generation of “spintronic” devices, promising faster, denser, and more energy-efficient data storage. The research published May 28 in Nature provides the first experimental evidence of “p-wave magnetism” in nickel iodide. This unique magnetic state, which can be controlled with a small electric field, combines properties of different magnetic types, opening a new avenue for controlling information at the quantum level.

Understanding this discovery helps to know the two most common forms of magnetism. In ferromagnets, like a standard refrigerator magnet, the electrons in the material have a property called spin, which acts like a tiny compass needle. All these spins point in the same direction, creating a strong, collective magnetic field. In antiferromagnets, the spins of neighboring atoms point in opposite directions, effectively canceling each other out and resulting in a material with no net magnetism. The newly observed p-wave magnetism in nickel iodide is a hybrid. While its opposing spins also cancel out to produce zero net magnetization, they are arranged in a unique, non-uniform spiral pattern. This spiral structure has a specific “handedness,” or chirality, much like a person’s left and right hands are mirror images of each other.

The research team’s breakthrough demonstrates that this chirality can be controlled electrically. The scientists synthesized ultrathin, single-crystal flakes of nickel iodide, and discovered that the material is a type II multiferroic. This means its magnetic properties (the spin spiral) are intrinsically linked to its electric properties. Because of this coupling, the team found they could apply a small voltage to flip the direction of the magnetic spiral from a left-handed to a right-handed configuration and vice versa. This action directly controls the spin polarization of electrons moving through the material, which is the defining characteristic of p-wave magnetism and a critical function for spintronic applications.

While this achievement marks a significant milestone, the effect was observed at an ultracold temperature of about 60 kelvins, impractical for consumer devices. The ability to switch electron spins with a small voltage rather than with a current that generates heat is the core promise of spintronics. “We showed that this new form of magnetism can be manipulated electrically,” said Qian Song, an MIT’s Materials Research Laboratory research scientist. “P-wave magnets could save five orders of magnitude of energy. Which is huge.” The next significant step for researchers is to find or engineer a material that exhibits these remarkable p-wave properties at room temperature, bringing the vision of ultra-efficient spintronic memory one step closer to reality.

References

• Chu, J. & Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (2025, June 5). Physicists observe a new form of magnetism for the first time. Phys.Org; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-physicists-magnetism.html
• Song, Q., Stavrić, S., Barone, P., Droghetti, A., Antonenko, D. S., Venderbos, J. W. F., Occhialini, C. A., Ilyas, B., Ergeçen, E., Gedik, N., Cheong, S.-W., Fernandes, R. M., Picozzi, S., & Comin, R. (2025). Electrical switching of a p-wave magnet. Nature, 642(8066), 64–70. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09034-7