A new physics discovery made by a University of Virginia-led
team may lead to more efficient refrigerators, heat pumps and airport scanners,
among many possible uses –perhaps within a decade.
The team of physicists and materials scientists have
discovered a universal law governing the magnetic properties of metamagnets –
metal alloys that can undergo dramatic increases in magnetization when a small
external magnetic field is applied, such as from a permanent magnet or an
electromagnet.