Jairo Sinova, Libor Šmejkal, and Tomas Jungwirth Win 2026 EPS Europhysics Prize

For over one hundred years, the scientific understanding of magnetism was neatly divided into two categories: ferromagnets, which possess net magnetization, and conventional antiferromagnets, which are magnetically compensated. That paradigm shifted this year as the European Physical Society (EPS) Condensed Matter Division announced its 2026 Europhysics Prize, honoring the discovery of a third, previously hidden class of magnetism known as altermagnetism.

The 2026 EPS Europhysics Prize Laureates

The prestigious award recognizes the collaborative work of Professor Jairo Sinova of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Dr. Libor Šmejkal, and Professor Tomas Jungwirth of the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. The discovery is described by the EPS as a major development that is reshaping our understanding of magnetism and opening new pathways for quantum materials and future information technologies.

The research partnership between JGU and the Prague-based team was instrumental in the breakthrough. Dr. Libor Šmejkal, who worked in Professor Sinova’s group at JGU from 2016 until 2024, played a central role in developing the theoretical framework for the discovery. During his tenure in Mainz, he served as both a doctoral researcher and a postdoctoral scientist, leading the theoretical efforts that established the symmetry classification of altermagnetism.

Redefining Magnetic Order and Symmetry

Altermagnetism distinguishes itself by occupying a unique middle ground. Like antiferromagnets, these materials possess no net magnetization. However, they simultaneously exhibit electronic properties—such as highly spin-polarized electrical currents and ultrafast magnetic dynamics—that were previously thought to be exclusive to ferromagnets.

Professor Jairo Sinova, Director of the Spin Phenomena Interdisciplinary Center (SPICE) at Mainz University, stated that this award recognizes a fundamental discovery that challenged one of the most established paradigms in condensed matter physics. He noted that discovering an entirely new magnetic phase had remained hidden for more than one hundred years demonstrates that even the most mature scientific fields can still hold fundamental surprises.

The discovery emerged from the team’s earlier work on unconventional magnetic transport phenomena, including the crystal anomalous Hall effect. By applying modern symmetry theory to spintronics, the researchers identified that these unusual behaviors were not isolated anomalies but part of a distinct magnetic phase. In 2022, the team published a complete symmetry classification of altermagnetism and identified hundreds of candidate materials, sparking a surge of interest across the global physics community.

Global Research and Future Applications

Since the initial theoretical predictions, experimental groups in Europe, North America, and Asia have confirmed the existence of altermagnetism using techniques such as angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and electrical transport measurements. The rapid expansion of the field has led to hundreds of new publications in just a few years, making it a prominent topic at international physics conferences.

Beyond its potential for next-generation spintronic devices, the discovery has established a new symmetry class of matter.