Anonymous25 days ago
Engineers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated that thin magnetic films patterned with hexagonal holes produce spin waves obeying the same mathematical equations as graphene's massless electrons, revealing nine distinct energy bands including Dirac cones, flat bands, and topological states. The discovery, published in Physical Review X in February 2026, opens pathways to miniaturized microwave devices, magnon-based computing, and a tunable experimental platform for exploring exotic 2D material physics without electrons.