Physics, Quantum Physics

USC physicist studies quantum ‘altermagnets’ for next-gen memory

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November 9, 2026 by Ivy Delaney

Kelly Luo, Gabilan Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, will explore materials just a few atoms thick as the recipient of a five-year, $1 million Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the U.S. Army Research Office. Luo studies “altermagnets” and their potential to dramatically reduce energy consumption in future electronics and memory devices.

If endorsed by the President, Luo would become only the second USC Dornsife faculty member to receive a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, following Moh El-Naggar, who received the honor in 2014.

Altermagnet Materials Enable Electronics

Altermagnet layers only a few atoms thick are central to Luo’s investigation of electronics, potentially enabling extremely thin components stacked closely on a chip. The team is testing whether an electrical switch in a ferroelectric material can rearrange magnetism in an adjoining altermagnet, similar to how a shake rearranges an etch-a-sketch design. Successful manipulation of the altermagnet’s magnetic state with a short voltage pulse could allow information storage without continuous power consumption.

The potential impact extends beyond energy efficiency; magnetic activity in these materials occurs at gigahertz-to-terahertz frequencies, billions to trillions of cycles per second. This speed positions altermagnets for use in high-frequency signal processing, compact sensors and novel low-power memory devices. “More efficient electronics and quantum sensors are potential applications, but the discoveries may ultimately enable things we have yet to imagine.” Luo’s approach builds on prior awards, including a Department of Energy Early Career Award in 2024 and an ARO Early Career Program Award in 2025, demonstrating a sustained record of innovation in spintronics.

What makes her work so exciting is that the applications are potentially limitless. More efficient electronics and quantum sensors are potential applications, but the discoveries may ultimately enable things we have yet to imagine.

Voltage-Controlled Magnetism for Low-Power Devices

Luo’s team is now focused on “altermagnets,” materials exhibiting internal magnetic order but producing minimal external magnetic field, a characteristic that could allow for denser electronic component arrangements. Central to this effort is the exploration of pairing these altermagnets with ferroelectric materials, substances retaining electrical polarity even after voltage removal. The team will investigate whether switching the polarity within the ferroelectric material can induce a corresponding rearrangement of magnetism in the adjacent altermagnet, analogous to the mechanics of an etch-a-sketch.

Successful demonstration of this effect, creating a stable magnetic state with a brief voltage pulse, could eliminate the need for continuous power to maintain data storage, significantly improving energy efficiency. “This award gives our group sustained support to explore how controlling magnetism with voltage could lead to faster, more energy-efficient electronics and memory devices,” said Luo.

Beyond the potential for energy savings, the research aims to exploit the materials’ speed. Magnetic activity occurs at gigahertz frequencies, positioning them for use in high-frequency signal processing and compact sensors. Empowering students and postdoctoral researchers to bring their own ideas to these questions and grow into independent scientists makes that support especially meaningful to her.

This award gives our group sustained support to explore how controlling magnetism with voltage could lead to faster, more energy-efficient electronics and memory devices.

Spintronics Research Advances Opto-Electronic Integration

Luo’s collaborative spirit extends beyond physics, with courtesy appointments in chemistry and at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, encouraging interdisciplinary research. Her earlier work demonstrated the ability to transfer magnetic patterns into graphene using light at room temperature, a finding that laid the groundwork for current investigations. Moh El-Naggar, Dean’s Professor of Physics and Astronomy, previously received a PECASE award in 2014, and Luo’s nomination for the same honor reflects the growing recognition of USC Dornsife’s strength in quantum science and technology.

He was a quiet, patient, older gentleman who would stay after school to answer my endless questions about why a ball rolls downhill or how electric charges move.

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Ivy Delaney

Ivy Delaney has been working with neural networks and machine learning since the mid-nineties, back when a couple of hidden layers and a long afternoon of training counted as ambitious. She has watched the field go from academic curiosity to the thing quietly running underneath everything, and she brings that long view to quantum computing. For Quantum Zeitgeist she covers the ground where the two fields meet. That means quantum machine learning and the variational algorithms it leans on, and it also means the less glamorous but more interesting story of classical machine learning already doing real work inside quantum machines, decoding error-correcting codes, calibrating noisy hardware and learning the error models that simulators depend on. She writes about the hardware those algorithms have to run on too, and about the post-quantum cryptography scramble that the same hardware has set off. Her stories typically start with the paper, whether that is peer-reviewed work, conference proceedings or an arXiv preprint, with the source linked so you can hold a claim up against the research it came from. She is unimpressed by benchmarks that will not say what they beat, and by demonstrations that only work in the press release.

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