I’ve been reflecting on insights from my graduate research on frustrated magnetism. In frustrated magnets—materials with triangular atomic arrangements and antiferromagnetic interactions—the system cannot simultaneously satisfy all interactions, yet often orders anyway in practice.

Three mechanisms can enable order:

  • Thermal or quantum fluctuations
  • Structural phase transitions favoring certain interactions
  • Interesting phases emerging near frustrated magnets

This leads to a general strategy for discovering switchable phenomena: Find a phase which is subject to an instability through some type of perturbation. If you can move the system towards the instability using one control parameter, you’re half way there.

The approach involves using multiple control parameters (pressure, electric field, etc.) to manipulate a system across phase boundaries, potentially enabling novel functionality.