Barnett effect 2026-10-18
The Barnett effect is the change of a body's magnetization caused by mechanical rotation. Turning the whole specimen can bias the internal angular momentum carrying its magnetic moments, even with zero applied magnetic field. It is the reciprocal physical question to the Einstein-de Haas effect: impose rotation and measure magnetization, rather than change magnetization and observe mechanical motion. The relation between the two becomes especially transparent when the same signed gyromagnetic ratio connects magnetic moment and internal angular momentum.
Samuel Jackson Barnett published Magnetization by Rotation on 1 October 1915 in Physical Review. The Barnett rotation magnetometry experiment below provides an inspected modern example. The important distinction is between an equivalent term in a Hamiltonian and the actual external magnetic field measured by a magnetometer: the first biases the material; its resulting magnetization produces the second.
The 2015 experiment used an air-driven nonmagnetic rotor containing polycrystalline gadolinium, with magnetic shielding and an external fluxgate magnetometer. Air drive reduced motor backgrounds. Measurements at 297–305 K were above the Curie temperature, at rotation frequencies up to 1.5 kHz. Reversing airflow reversed rotation and the magnetic signal; an empty capsule showed no speed-dependent signal. The readout measured stray magnetic field; geometry converted it to magnetization. Sample temperature was checked immediately after stopping. Heating and the conversion model limit inference.[ref]
Figure 1. . Original functional layout, with simplified geometry. The arrows independently explain the sign expected for : positive axial angular velocity, negative axial magnetization, and positive axial stray magnetic field at an equatorial sensor. The air line indicates drive function. Dimensions and components follow the inspected experiment; this is neither its original figure nor measured data. Details.
An additional analysis check follows from rotation symmetry. For signed sensor output , separate
An ideal linear Barnett effect appears in the odd component; a fixed offset appears in the even component. This is a proposed diagnostic, not a claim about the paper's processing. A background correlated with direction can also be odd: reversal alone is insufficient. Empty-rotor checks, zero-speed readings, calibration of sensor polarity, and controlled temperature changes test different errors. Equatorial stray-field sign must also be converted to magnetization sign: for an axial magnetic dipole moment, the magnetic dipole field at its equator points opposite to that magnetic moment. The apparatus diagram makes this otherwise easy-to-miss sign change visible.
Eiji Saitoh Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
Eiji Saitoh coauthored a Barnett effect experiment on gadolinium above its Curie temperature. A fluxgate magnetometer measured magnetization during rapid mechanical rotation, testing rotation-induced magnetic response in the regime of paramagnetism.[ref]
Hiroyuki Chudo Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
Hiroyuki Chudo coauthored a Barnett effect experiment on gadolinium above its Curie temperature. A fluxgate magnetometer measured magnetization during rapid mechanical rotation, testing rotation-induced magnetic response in the regime of paramagnetism.[ref]
Jun’ichi Ieda Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
Jun’ichi Ieda coauthored a Barnett effect experiment on gadolinium above its Curie temperature. A fluxgate magnetometer measured magnetization during rapid mechanical rotation, testing rotation-induced magnetic response in the regime of paramagnetism.[ref]
Kazuya Harii Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
Kazuya Harii coauthored a Barnett effect experiment on gadolinium above its Curie temperature. A fluxgate magnetometer measured magnetization during rapid mechanical rotation, testing rotation-induced magnetic response in the regime of paramagnetism.[ref]
Mamoru Matsuo Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
Mamoru Matsuo coauthored a Barnett effect experiment on gadolinium above its Curie temperature. A fluxgate magnetometer measured magnetization during rapid mechanical rotation, testing rotation-induced magnetic response in the regime of paramagnetism.[ref]
Masao Ono Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
Masao Ono coauthored a Barnett effect experiment on gadolinium above its Curie temperature. A fluxgate magnetometer measured magnetization during rapid mechanical rotation, testing rotation-induced magnetic response in the regime of paramagnetism.[ref]
Ryo Takahashi Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
Ryo Takahashi coauthored a Barnett effect experiment on gadolinium above its Curie temperature. A fluxgate magnetometer measured magnetization during rapid mechanical rotation, testing rotation-induced magnetic response in the regime of paramagnetism.[ref]
Sadamichi Maekawa Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
Sadamichi Maekawa coauthored a Barnett effect experiment on gadolinium above its Curie temperature. A fluxgate magnetometer measured magnetization during rapid mechanical rotation, testing rotation-induced magnetic response in the regime of paramagnetism.[ref]
Samuel Jackson Barnett Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
Samuel Jackson Barnett demonstrated that mechanical rotation can magnetize a material, the Barnett effect. Rotation couples to the angular momentum associated with microscopic magnetic moments, producing a magnetic response without using an applied field as the driving cause. The effect connects mechanical angular momentum with magnetization and complements experiments in which a change of magnetization produces mechanical motion. It makes the magnetic moment's connection with microscopic angular momentum experimentally accessible.[ref]
A physicist listed as professor of physics at the University of California, Los Angeles, in its 1927–1928 faculty announcement.[ref]
Satoru Okayasu Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
Satoru Okayasu coauthored a Barnett effect experiment on gadolinium above its Curie temperature. A fluxgate magnetometer measured magnetization during rapid mechanical rotation, testing rotation-induced magnetic response in the regime of paramagnetism.[ref]