New electron microscopy technique developed at UIUC show that magnetic order in antiferromagnetic Fe2As can be resolved at angstrom resolution for the first time.

Understanding magnetization on the angstrom scale is essential for the implementation of real devices based on antiferromagnets. Our work provides important insight into how magnetic order can be probed atom-by-atom, something that has not yet been achieved.

Because the net magnetization of antiferromagnets is zero, developing new probes to image and sense magnetism at the atomic-scale will provide insight to the full magnetic landscape of antiferromagnets – whose structural and magnetic coupling to light or applied field can determine local changes in their dynamics.