Researchers at UC Santa Barbara, led by materials professor Stephen Wilson, have discovered an innovative way to harness magnetic frustration – a phenomenon where atomic magnetic moments struggle to align – to potentially unlock new avenues for quantum technologies. Published January 21, 2026, in Nature Materials, the team’s work details how coexisting frustrations within a rare material system can be manipulated, offering functional control over quantum states. “This is fundamental science aimed at addressing a basic question. It’s meant to probe what physics may be possible for future devices,” explains Wilson. By studying materials built from triangular networks of lanthanides, the group has opened a window into engineering unconventional magnetic states with implications for the next generation of quantum functionalities.
Magnetic Frustration and Antiferromagnetic Ground States
Researchers at UC Santa Barbara are delving into the complex world of magnetic frustration, exploring how competing interactions at the atomic level can birth unusual quantum states with potential technological applications. The work, published in Nature Materials, centers on understanding how frustration of long-range order can be harnessed to engineer unconventional magnetism. Magnetic frustration arises when atomic magnetic moments – effectively tiny bar magnets – are unable to align in a single, energy-minimizing configuration. “You can think of magnetism as being derived from tiny bar magnets sitting at the atomic sites in a crystal lattice,” Wilson said. In a simple square lattice, antiferromagnetism, where neighboring moments point in opposite directions, easily achieves a stable ground state. However, on a triangular lattice, satisfying this antiparallel arrangement becomes impossible, creating competing forces and a “frustrated” system. “If they want to interact in this antiferromagnetic way, and if they are sitting on atoms forming a square network, then each moment can be antiparallel to its neighbors… In a different network, however, such as a triangle, not every moment can point opposite to its neighbors.”
The UC Santa Barbara team is particularly interested in systems exhibiting multiple forms of frustration. Beyond the magnetic moments, frustration can also occur with electron sharing between atoms, forming “atomic dimers” susceptible to strain. Their recent work has identified a rare material system where both magnetic and bonding frustrations coexist, offering a pathway for functional control. “It’s a way of imparting in things a functionality or response to other things to which it would otherwise not respond,” Wilson explained. By constructing materials from triangular networks of lanthanides, researchers hope to create intrinsically quantum disordered states. The ultimate goal is to leverage these states, potentially hosting long-range entanglement of spins, for quantum information technologies. “In principle, this triangular lattice network of properly chosen lanthanide moments can cause a special kind of intrinsically quantum disordered state to arise,” Wilson said, adding that coupling these frustrated layers could unlock novel intertwined orders.
Interleaved Bond Frustration in Triangular Lattices
Stephen Wilson’s lab group recently published findings in Nature Materials detailing how combining multiple forms of frustration can engineer unconventional magnetic states. While antiferromagnetism works well on square lattices, triangular arrangements introduce conflict. This frustration isn’t limited to magnetic moments; electron sharing can also create similar effects. The formation of “atomic dimers” – where neighboring ions share electrons – can become frustrated in triangular or honeycomb lattices, creating a highly susceptible bond network. Ultimately, the goal is to realize “different types of intertwined order” and potentially access long-range entanglement for quantum information applications.
Lanthanide Networks Enable Quantum Disordered States
However, on certain lattice structures, like triangles, achieving a stable, low-energy state becomes impossible. This coexistence is “exciting” according to Wilson, as it allows for potential functional control; perturbing one frustrated system can influence the other. Over the last six or seven years, the team has successfully used triangular networks of lanthanides to engineer these frustrated magnetic states. “Gaining control over those states via applying a strain in the frustrated bond network would be exciting,” Wilson notes, envisioning a system where strain or magnetic fields induce structural or magnetic changes, and ultimately, access to entangled quantum states.
This is fundamental science aimed at addressing a basic question. It’s meant to probe what physics may be possible for future devices .
Strain Coupling for Functional Control of Entanglement
These frustrated systems are unusually sensitive to external stimuli, and the team’s recent findings demonstrate a method for leveraging this sensitivity. This configuration allows for “functional control over one frustrated system via a perturbation that impacts the other,” a breakthrough described by Wilson as “exciting.” The principle hinges on the fact that strain applied to a frustrated bond network can relieve that frustration, potentially influencing a separate, magnetically frustrated layer. “If you have two highly frustrated layers that are both very sensitive to perturbations, like strain… then the question is whether you can couple the two together,” Wilson explains.
The goal isn’t simply to induce order, but to engineer a response—a functionality—that wouldn’t otherwise exist. “So, in principle, one can engineer large ferroic responses. You can apply a bit of strain, which induces magnetic order, or you can apply a bit of magnetic field and induce changes to the structure,” Wilson said. Ultimately, the team hopes to harness this coupling to access and control long-range entanglement – a key property for quantum information processing. “That’s the big-picture idea,” Wilson concluded.
