Altermagnetism Europhysics Prize Follows MnTe, CrSb Data

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Key Takeaways

• CrSb thin films: A Nature Communications study measured about 0.6 eV of altermagnetic band splitting near the Fermi energy. The paper reports a magnetic-ordering temperature of about 700 K, above room temperature.
• MnTe: A Nature paper published February 14, 2024 used photoemission to show altermagnetic spin splitting in MnTe. The ordering temperature was 310 K, and the splitting reached roughly 100 meV along one measured path.
• The prize: The European Physical Society says it presented the 2026 Europhysics Prize to Libor Šmejkal, Jairo Sinova and Tomas Jungwirth on September 22, 2026, in Graz.
• Commercial status: No device, product, financing round or revenue figure turned up in the retrieved sources. A 2026 Nature Physics review calls altermagnetic spintronics an emerging field.
• Practical move for founders: Treat altermagnetism as a research signal to watch. Do not build a product plan on it yet.

In CrSb thin films, researchers measured about 0.6 eV of altermagnetic band splitting near the Fermi energy. The material kept its compensated magnetic order, meaning its opposing magnetic moments cancel out. The Nature Communications paper, published March 8, 2024, reports a magnetic-ordering temperature of about 700 K.

That experiment is part of the evidence behind the altermagnetism Europhysics Prize. The European Physical Society (EPS) announcement says the 2026 prize went to the three physicists who established altermagnetism as a distinct form of magnetism.

Why should founders and operators care? Altermagnetism points to a possible future materials platform for smaller, faster memory and spintronic parts with less cross-talk. But the evidence supports a research opportunity, not a product you can buy or build around today.

This post separates what has been measured from what is still hoped for.

CrSb Band Splitting of 0.6 eV: The Number Behind the Buzz

Start with the hook number. In a magnet, electrons sit in energy bands. Normally, in a magnet with no net magnetization, electrons with opposite spin have the same energy at a given momentum. In an altermagnet, that match breaks even though the moments cancel out.

The CrSb team measured this split directly. According to the Nature Communications paper, they used:

• 30-nanometer epitaxial thin films, meaning crystal layers grown in a controlled way on a base material
• Soft-X-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), a method that shines X-rays on a material and reads the energy and direction of the electrons that come out
• Temperatures as low as 12 K

From those data, the researchers estimated the altermagnetic splitting at 0.6 eV. They placed the strongly split band just below the Fermi energy. The Fermi energy is roughly the energy level where filled electron states give way to empty ones. It matters because electrons near that level are the ones that carry current.

Why 700 K gets attention

The paper reports a magnetic-ordering temperature of about 700 K. That is the temperature below which the magnetic order holds. It sits well above room temperature, which is about 300 K.

The paper also says the splitting sits close enough to the Fermi energy to be relevant to possible spin-polarized transport. That means electric current in which most electrons share the same spin direction. The word "possible" matters there. The paper measured the electronic structure. It did not build a working device.

A quick scale check

One eV equals 1,000 meV, so 0.6 eV is 600 meV. The MnTe result, covered next, is on a scale of about 100 meV along one measured path. That makes CrSb look larger on paper. But these are different materials, measured along different paths, so treat the comparison as a rough guide only.

Source: Nature Communications CrSb thin-film paper, published March 8, 2024

What the MnTe Altermagnetism Experiment Actually Showed

The second key data set comes from manganese telluride, or MnTe. A Nature paper published February 14, 2024 reported direct photoemission evidence in this material.

The team ran soft-X-ray ARPES on MnTe films. They paired it with ab initio calculations, which are computer models that predict material behavior from basic physics. Together, these identified both weak and strong altermagnetic lifting of Kramers spin degeneracy.

In plain words, electrons that normally share the same energy regardless of spin were shown to split apart. The MnTe crystal is centrosymmetric, a kind of crystal symmetry in which this splitting was not expected to appear in the usual way. It did, and the net magnetization stayed near zero.

The numbers from the MnTe paper

• 310 K magnetic-ordering temperature
• A spin splitting of roughly 100 meV in one measured band path
• A calculated residual net magnetization below 2 × 10^-4 Bohr magnetons per manganese atom

The last figure is a calculated estimate, not a direct measurement. It supports the claim that the material is compensated, with almost no net magnetization.

How MnTe and CrSb compare

MnTe orders at 310 K, only a little above room temperature. CrSb is reported to order near 700 K. That gap is one reason CrSb films draw interest from people thinking about devices.

Neither paper demonstrates a memory chip or a transistor. Both establish material-level electronic signatures. That is a vital step, but it is an earlier step than a product.

Source: Nature MnTe paper, published February 14, 2024

How the Third Class of Magnetism Was Defined in 2022

For about a century, physicists generally sorted collinear magnets into two groups. Collinear means the magnetic moments line up along one axis.

According to a Mainz University release dated October 18, 2026:

• Ferromagnets have an overall magnetic alignment and a net magnetization. They are essential to many magnetic memory technologies used today.
• Conventional antiferromagnets have opposing moments that cancel, leaving no overall magnetization. Their electronic behavior is very different from that of ferromagnets.

Altermagnets add a third option. Their moments also cancel, so there is no net magnetization. But their electrons can show properties once linked to ferromagnets.

The symmetry idea

The main theory paper is in Physical Review X 12, 031042, published September 23, 2022. It defines altermagnetism as a third distinct collinear magnetic phase. The definition rests on nonrelativistic spin-symmetry groups.

In simple terms, the two groups of opposite-spin atoms in the crystal are linked by a rotation of the crystal. They are not linked by a simple shift or a mirror flip through a center point. That rotation link is what lets the electron energies split by spin even though the moments cancel.

The Mainz release says this work combined advanced symmetry mathematics with spintronics. Spintronics studies how electron spin can be used in electronic devices. It also says early theory work included a prediction of the crystal anomalous Hall effect, an electrical transport effect in certain crystal structures. These looked like quirks of single materials until the team saw a broader principle behind them.

A second paper mapped the field

A separate Physical Review X perspective, published December 8, 2022, described the emerging research landscape. It described altermagnetism as a d-wave or higher-even-parity magnetic phase with vanishing net magnetization and a broad range of candidate materials. The term "d-wave" refers to the shape of the spin pattern in momentum space.

The Mainz release says the 2022 classification identified hundreds of potential materials. The EPS says the symmetry-based classification identified more than 200 candidate materials. Both are organization-reported claims, not independent counts.

Source: Physical Review X 12, 031042 (September 23, 2022); Physical Review X perspective (December 8, 2022); European Physical Society announcement

The Altermagnetism Europhysics Prize: Who Won and When

The EPS says the 2026 Europhysics Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Condensed Matter Physics went to Libor Šmejkal, Jairo Sinova and Tomas Jungwirth for the discovery of altermagnetism. According to the EPS announcement, the prize was presented on September 22, 2026, during CMD32 in Graz.

That date marks the completed award event. It is not just the earlier announcement of the winners. A Mainz University release dated October 18, 2026, described the ceremony as scheduled, but the EPS page supports the September 22 presentation date.

The three laureates

According to the Mainz release:

• Jairo Sinova is a physics professor at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and director of its Spin Phenomena Interdisciplinary Center (SPICE).
• Libor Šmejkal spent eight years at Mainz between 2016 and 2024, first as a doctoral researcher and then as a postdoctoral scientist in Sinova's group. His current affiliations include two Max Planck institutes and the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
• Tomas Jungwirth is affiliated with the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the University of Nottingham. He worked closely with the Mainz group.

The release says the discovery came from years of collaboration between Sinova's group at Mainz and Jungwirth's team in Prague.

What the prize recognizes

Sinova is quoted in the Mainz release: "This award recognizes a fundamental discovery that challenged one of the most established paradigms in condensed matter physics." He added that a new magnetic phase staying hidden for more than a hundred years shows that mature fields can still hold surprises.

The release says the Europhysics Prize was established in 1975. It also says that the 2026 award recognizes both the theoretical and the experimental advances behind altermagnetism. Those experiments include the MnTe and CrSb work above.

Note the sourcing here. The prize announcement comes from the EPS, and the quote and the "hidden for a century" framing come from a university release. Both are institutional sources, not independent reporting.

Source: European Physical Society announcement

Why Altermagnetism Spintronics Is a Research Bet, Not a Product

The technology case is where hope runs ahead of evidence. A 2026 Nature Physics review, published July 6, 2026, describes altermagnetic spintronics as an emerging field. It does not describe an established commercial technology.

The review points to three areas for future device research:

• Strongly spin-polarized currents without net magnetization. Most spin-based memory today relies on ferromagnets, which create stray magnetic fields. A material with no net magnetization could, in principle, produce less cross-talk between neighboring parts.
• Fast spin dynamics. The Mainz release also says altermagnets show extremely rapid magnetic dynamics. That could matter for speed.
• Possible interaction with ferroelectricity or superconductivity. Ferroelectric materials hold an electric polarization. Superconductors carry current with no resistance. Mixing them with altermagnets is a research direction, not a result.

The review frames the field as focused on future device functionality and scalability. That phrase signals open work. Scalability means whether the effect can be made reliably, in volume, on useful substrates.

Where the physics reaches beyond electronics

The Mainz release says altermagnetism has revealed links to several major areas of physics. These include topological phenomena, unconventional superconductivity and quantum materials with strong interactions between electrons. Those links make it a rich research topic even before any device appears.

What is still missing

The retrieved sources do not show any of the following:

• A working altermagnetic memory device
• A verified performance edge over existing memory technologies
• A commercial product or manufacturing process
• A financing round, grant total, revenue figure or operating cost

Those gaps are plain facts about the evidence, not predictions about the future.

Source: Nature Physics review, published July 6, 2026

What the Experts Agree On, and What Nobody Has Shown

The scientific core is well aligned across the retrieved literature. Altermagnetism is treated as a separate symmetry class. It combines compensated magnetic order with momentum-dependent spin splitting. That is the same picture across the 2022 Physical Review X papers and the MnTe and CrSb experiments.

The 2026 Nature Physics review adds that the field looks promising for spintronics, memory, ferroelectric and superconducting research. The primary experimental papers, however, establish electronic signatures in specific materials. They do not show finished devices.

Independent commentary is thin

Independent commentary is limited in the retrieved material. One institutional report relayed a Science-related recognition that named altermagnetism a major 2024 physics advance. That report is not independent of the research institutions involved, so it should not be read as outside confirmation.

The retrieved sources also do not establish:

• A market consensus
• Commercial readiness
• A verified performance advantage over current memory technologies

How to read the evidence

Think of it as layers:

1. Theory: The 2022 Physical Review X papers define the class and map candidate materials.
2. Material-level experiments: The MnTe paper (February 14, 2024) and the CrSb paper (March 8, 2024) measured the predicted spin splitting.
3. Field assessment: The 2026 Nature Physics review lays out future device directions.
4. Recognition: The EPS presented the 2026 prize on September 22, 2026.

Nothing in those layers is a product. Each step supports the next one, but the last step, commercial devices, has not been shown.

Source: Physical Review X 12, 031042; Nature MnTe paper; Nature Communications CrSb paper; Nature Physics review

What This Means for Startups and Small Businesses

For most founders, this is a signal to watch, not a project to start. Here is how to act on it sensibly.

If you build hardware, memory or sensors

• Track the materials, not the headlines. CrSb and MnTe are the two best-documented examples. Watch for papers on device structures built from them.
• Use the temperature numbers as a screen. An ordering temperature of about 700 K (CrSb) is above room temperature. MnTe's 310 K is only slightly above it. Ordering above room temperature is necessary for ordinary use, but it does not prove a device will work.
• Watch for the first real device demonstrations. Look for a working spin-based component, not another band-structure measurement.
• Look for university partners. Groups at Mainz, Prague and elsewhere lead this work. Early talks cost little compared with building in-house expertise.

If you invest in or advise deep tech

• Do not price in commercial results. The retrieved sources identify no financing round, revenue or cost figure. Any claim of a market size or timeline would be a guess.
• Ask for the evidence layer. Is a claim about theory, a material measurement or a device? Those are very different stages.
• Be careful with institutional claims. Prize announcements and university releases are credible for what they report. They are not independent market analysis.

If you run a non-hardware business

• You do not need to act now. Memory and chip supply chains will not change because of a 2026 prize.
• Use the story as a reading habit. Basic research often runs for years before it shows up in products. Plan for steady, practical improvements today, and keep an eye on research that could matter later.

The honest summary: altermagnetism is a strong science story and a plausible long-term materials direction. The proof that it will lead to better products has not arrived yet.

Source: Nature Physics review, published July 6, 2026; Nature Communications CrSb paper; Nature MnTe paper

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