Altermagnetism has recently emerged as a generalized form of magnetism beyond the classical ferromagnets and antiferromagnets. Altermagnets have an additional broken symmetry in comparison to (anti)ferromagnets that give them strange properties. For example, they share some of the properties of the ferromagnets (e.g. the quantum spin-hall effect) yet without a net magnetization. In addition, they acquire an extremely strong magnetization upon the application of a deformation.
In this highly exploratory project, you will ask the following question: how should a classical analogue of an altermagnet look like? To address this question, we together will combine theory, numerical simulations and experiments and use analogies between the classical and quantum worlds, e.g. between spins and buckling instabilities. We have in the past teamed up to pioneer non-hermitian topological phases using such analogies and we are now excited to take on altermagnetism together with you.