Altermagnetism discoverers win 2026 Europhysics Prize

Physicists Jairo Sinova, Libor Šmejkal and Tomas Jungwirth have received the 2026 Europhysics Prize for establishing altermagnetism, a third form of collinear magnetism alongside ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism. The discovery, hidden for over a century, opens new possibilities for spintronics, quantum materials and future computing.

• The prize is awarded by the EPS Condensed Matter Division
• Altermagnets have zero net magnetization yet spin-polarize electrons
• A 2022 symmetry classification identified hundreds of candidate materials
• Hundreds of papers on altermagnetism have appeared in a few years