Engineers Create Unusual Magnetic Material That Behaves Like Graphene

By University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering March 10, 2026

Collected at: https://scitechdaily.com/engineers-create-unusual-magnetic-material-that-behaves-like-graphene/

Researchers at the University of Illinois have discovered a surprising mathematical connection between two areas of condensed-matter physics that were long considered separate.

The electronic and magnetic behavior of two-dimensional materials both hold significant promise for future technologies. For many years, scientists treated these two properties as unrelated. Engineers at the University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering have now shown that they can be described using the same mathematical framework.

In a study published in Physical Review X, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign demonstrated how carefully designed two-dimensional magnetic systems can follow the same equations that govern mobile electrons in graphene. This connection could influence the development of radiofrequency technologies and offer scientists a new strategy for analyzing and designing these types of materials.

“It’s not at all obvious that there is an analogy between 2D electronics and 2D magnetic behaviors, and we’re still amazed at how well this analogy works,” said Bobby Kaman, the study’s lead author. “2D electronics are very well studied thanks to the discovery of graphene, and now we’ve shown that a not-so-well-studied class of materials obeys the same fundamental physics.”

Inspiration From Metamaterials

The concept originated while Kaman, a materials science and engineering graduate student in the research group of professor Axel Hoffmann, was studying metamaterials. These materials are designed with carefully arranged internal structures that produce behaviors not possible in the original substance’s atomic-scale form.

Electrons moving through graphene and tiny magnetic disturbances in so-called magnonic materials can both behave like waves. This similarity led Kaman to wonder whether a magnonic material could be engineered to mimic the electronic behavior seen in graphene.

“Graphene is unique because its conduction electrons organize into massless waves, so I was curious if altering the physical geometry of a magnonic material to look like graphene would make it act like graphene,” Kaman said. “I thought it would maybe have a handful of similar properties to graphene, but the analogy was much deeper and richer than I expected.”

To test this idea, the team examined a system in which microscopic magnetic moments, known as “spins,” are arranged within a thin film. The surface of the film contains holes placed in a hexagonal pattern that resembles graphene’s structure.

When the researchers calculated the energies of disturbances moving through the material, called spin waves, they discovered that these waves follow the same mathematical rules that describe electrons traveling through graphene.

A More Complex Spectrum of Behaviors

Although the analogy with graphene was clear, the system turned out to be more complicated than the researchers initially expected. Their analysis revealed nine distinct energy bands, which means the material can support several different types of behavior at the same time.

One of these behaviors involves massless spin waves that closely resemble the electron waves in graphene. The system also contains low-dispersion bands linked to localized states, along with topological effects that appear across different bands.

“What makes Bobby’s work remarkable is that it makes a direct connection between an engineered spin system and a fundamental physics model,” Hoffmann said. “Magnonic crystals are notorious for producing an overwhelming variety of structure- and geometry-dependent phenomena, most of which are cataloged without really being understood. The graphene analogy in this system provides a clear explanation for the observed behaviors.”

The researchers say their findings could lead to practical technologies in addition to improving scientific understanding. One area of interest is microwave components used in wireless and cellular communication systems.

“One such device is a ‘microwave circulator’ that only allows microwave radio signals to propagate in one direction,” Hoffmann explained. “They are usually bulky, but the magnonic system we studied could allow microwave devices to be miniaturized to the micrometer scale.”

Reference: “Emulating 2D Materials with Magnons” by Bobby Kaman, Jinho Lim, Yingkai Liu and Axel Hoffmann, 24 February 2026, Physical Review X.
DOI: 10.1103/t7tm-nxyl

Hoffmann’s research group has applied for a patent for their microwave device concepts.

Support was provided by Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center through the National Science Foundation.