Magnetic materials for quantum magnonics

Quantum magnonics studies the quantum properties of magnons—the quanta of spin waves—and their application in quantum information processing. Progress in this field depends on identifying magnetic materials with characteristics tailored to the diverse requirements of magnonics and quantum magnonics. For single-magnon excitation, its control, hybrid coupling, and entanglement, the most critical property is the ability to support long magnon lifetimes. This perspective reviews established and emerging magnetic materials—including ferromagnetic metals, Heusler compounds, antiferromagnets, altermagnets, organic and 2D van der Waals magnets, hexaferrites, europium chalcogenides, and particularly yttrium iron garnet (YIG)—highlighting their key characteristics. YIG remains the benchmark, with bulk crystals supporting sub-microsecond Kittel-mode lifetimes and ultra-pure spheres achieving ∼18 μs for dipolar-exchange magnons at millikelvin temperatures. However, thin YIG films on gadolinium gallium garnet substrates suffer from severe lifetime reduction due to substrate-induced losses. In contrast, YIG films on a new lattice matched, diamagnetic alternative, yttrium scandium gallium/aluminum garnet, overcome these limitations and preserve low magnetic damping down to millikelvin temperatures. These advances provide a practical pathway toward ultra-long-living magnons in thin films, enabling scalable quantum magnonics with coherent transport, strong magnon–photon and magnon–qubit coupling, and integrated quantum networks.