Novel magnetic material operates under extreme stress conditions
(PhysOrg.com) -- Ferromagnetic materials are key ingredients in vast arrays of technologies including wind turbines, computer hard-disks, credit card readers, and many more. Typically these magnets operate in moderate environments. But exposing a magnetic material to high heat or compressive stress usually destroys its magnetism because high temperatures and high compression induce agitation and mobility of unpaired electrons ("atomic compass"), destroying the correlated arrangement of atomic compasses across the solid needed to generate, or detect, magnetic fields. Scientists utilizing the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Sciences Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory have found superb stability of ferromagnetism against compressive stress in an unconventional magnet.