By Rafael Gonzalez Hernandez was awarded for work on altermagnetism.
ICTP and the Quantum ESPRESSO Foundation have announced the awarding of their 2024 Walter Kohn Prize to Rafael Gonzalez Hernandez, a professor at the Universidad del Norte, Colombia, for his ground-breaking work in uncovering the physics and properties of altermagnetism, an unconventional magnetic state of matter, and for his ab initio predictions of related effects in real materials.
Using density functional theory, a quantum-mechanical ab initioab initio simulation method with which researchers can compute a wide variety of properties of atomic systems, Gonzalez Hernandez’s work has paved the way for experimental validation of altermagnetism, which is considered a new branch of magnetism.
“This is probably his major achievement; not only did all other computational groups follow his path at a distance, but experimental investigations found evidence of these phenomena only upon inspiration from his work,” says Stefano Baroni, Professor of a condensed matter physicist at SISSA and a representative Director of the Quantum ESPRESSO Foundation. He adds: “This is a singular original contribution where electronic-structure simulations play a leading role and have opened a new avenue of research. This work is a real celebration of the power and leading role of quantum-mechanical ab initio simulations in modern physics, chemistry and materials science.“
“Gonzalez Hernandez has leveraged ab initio simulations based on density functional theory to predict the spin-splitter effect and other unconventional properties in altermagnets that have been quickly verified experimentally,”, explains ICTP condensed matter physicist Professor Sandro Scandolo, adding, “The work has opened a new avenue of research in modern condensed-matter physics and materials science where first-principles electronic-structure simulations have been playing a leading role.”.
This exciting, experimentally proven discovery of a new branch of magnetism has important implications for diverse areas of research and technology, including spintronics and superconductivity.
About the prize winner
Professor Rafael Gonzalez Hernandez earned his master’s and PhD degrees at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. He has received a number of accolades for his work, including a research fellowship from the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation, Germany, and the TWAS Prize for Young Scientists in Developing Countries in the area of physics, granted by the Colombian Academy of Sciences and The World Academy of Sciences. He was an ICTP Junior Associate in 2015. He is a Corresponding Member of the Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical, and Natural Sciences.
About the prize
The Walter Kohn Prize was established in 2016 by ICTP and the Quantum ESPRESSO Foundation (QEF) in honour of Chemistry Nobel Laureate Walter Kohn, a leading condensed matter physicist who developed density functional theory (DFT). This method drastically reduces the amount of computing power needed to model the properties of complex materials without compromising the accuracy of a model’s simulations. DFT has already had a big impact on various fields, including chemistry, molecular physics, medicine and engineering. It also has opened the door to contributions from scientists from disadvantaged countries with no access to huge supercomputers due to their low computing costs and the wide availability of open-source modeling software. The prize is awarded jointly by ICTP and the QEF every two years.
The QuantumQuantum ESPRESSO Foundation is home to some of the most popular and internationally recognised open-source codes for quantum-mechanical materials modelling, mainly based on density functional theory. ICTP and QEF regularly organise schools on computer simulations of materials, especially in developing countries.
For more details, see the Walter Kohn Prize web page.