Unlike fridge magnets, many crystals exhibit complex magnetism involving more than just north+south poles. Recent work by graduate student Sreekar Voleti, working with Professor Paramekanti and collaborators, shows how one can probe such "multipolar" magnets using impurities, which like the Roman God Janus, have a dual effect - they detect the order but ultimately destroy it. This work was published in the journal npj Quantum Materials, linked below.

Congrats to Dr. Sreekar Voleti for also having successfully defended his PhD thesis!

Read the full publication here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41535-023-00575