A clearer understanding of magnetic interactions in insulating materials can help in developing magnets for motors in electric vehicles and can enhance the performance of magnets in many other devices. Researchers expected that introducing atoms of a nonmagnetic material into a magnetic insulator would weaken the magnetic interactions in the material. But a team conducting experiments at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory discovered that when the insulating material barium manganate was doped with atoms of nonmagnetic vanadium, the magnetic excitations in the doped material retained their strength. The work contributes to fundamental understanding of magnetic interactions in insulating materials.
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