antiferromagnetism, type of magnetism in solids such as manganese oxide (MnO) in which

adjacent ions that behave as tiny magnets (in this case manganese ions, Mn
2+
) spontaneously align
themselves at relatively low temperatures into opposite, or antiparallel, arrangements throughout the
material so that it exhibits almost no gross external magnetism. In antiferromagnetic materials, which
include certain metals and alloys in addition to some ionic solids, the magnetism from magnetic
atoms or ions oriented in one direction is canceled out by the set of magnetic atoms or ions that are
aligned in the reverse direction.
This spontaneous antiparallel coupling of atomic magnets is disrupted by heating and disappears
entirely above a certain temperature, called the Nel temperature, characteristic of each
antiferromagnetic material. (The Nel temperature is named for Louis Nel, French physicist, who in
1936 gave one of the first explanations of antiferromagnetism.) Some antiferromagnetic materials
have Nel temperatures at, or even several hundred degrees above, room temperature, but usually
these temperatures are lower. The Nel temperature for manganese oxide, for example, is 122 K
(151 C, or 240 F).
Antiferromagnetic solids exhibit special behaviour in an applied magnetic field depending upon the
temperature. At very low temperatures, the solid exhibits no response to the external field, because
the antiparallel ordering of atomic magnets is rigidly maintained. At higher temperatures, some
atoms break free of the orderly arrangement and align with the external field. This alignment and the
weak magnetism it produces in the solid reach their peak at the Nel temperature. Above this
temperature, thermal agitation progressively prevents alignment of the atoms with the magnetic field,
so that the weak magnetism produced in the solid by the alignment of its atoms continuously
decreases as temperature is increased.

ferrimagnetism, type of permanent magnetism that occurs in solids in which the magnetic fields
associated with individual atoms spontaneously align themselves, some parallel, or in the same
direction (as in ferromagnetism), and others generally antiparallel, or paired off in opposite directions
(as in antiferromagnetism). The magnetic behaviour of single crystals of ferrimagnetic materials may
be attributed to the parallel alignment; the diluting effect of those atoms in the antiparallel
arrangement keeps the magnetic strength of these materials generally less than that of purely
ferromagnetic solids such as metallic iron.
Ferrimagnetism occurs chiefly in magnetic oxides known as ferrites. The natural magnetism
exhibited by lodestones, recorded as early as the 6th century BC, is that of a ferrite, the
mineralmagnetite, a compound containing negative oxygen ions O
2-
and positive iron ions in two
states, iron(II) ions, Fe
2+
, and iron(III) ions, Fe
3+
. The oxygen ions are not magnetic, but both iron ions
are. Inmagnetite crystals, chemically formulated as Fe3O4, for every four oxygen ions, there are two
iron(III) ions and one iron(II) ion. The iron(III) ions are paired off in opposite directions, producing no
external magnetic field, but the iron(II) ions are all aligned in the same direction, accounting for the
external magnetism.
The spontaneous alignment that produces ferrimagnetism is entirely disrupted above a temperature
called the Curie point, characteristic of each ferrimagnetic material. When the temperature of the
material is brought below the Curie point, ferrimagnetism revives.