E-Mail IMAGE: A Rice University-led study finds a unique form of tunable and ultrastrong spin-spin interactions in orthoferrites under a strong magnetic field. The discovery has implications for quantum simulation and sensing.... view more Credit: Illustration by Motoaki Bamba/Kyoto University HOUSTON - (May 25, 2021) - Sometimes things are a little out of whack, and it turns out to be exactly what you need. That was the case when orthoferrite crystals turned up at a Rice University laboratory slightly misaligned. Those crystals inadvertently became the basis of a discovery that should resonate with researchers studying spintronics-based quantum technology. Rice physicist Junichiro Kono, alumnus Takuma Makihara and their collaborators found an orthoferrite material, in this case yttrium iron oxide, placed in a high magnetic field showed uniquely tunable, ultrastrong interactions between magnons in the crystal.