Altermagnetism has recently emerged as a new class of magnetic order that combines the advantages of both ferromagnets and antiferromagnets. The compensated antiparallel spin structure, in combination with crystallographic rotational symmetry, gives rise to distinct magnetic properties, opening new opportunities for next-generation spintronic applications. In this review, we introduce a variety of experimental approaches-including electronic, optical, and particle-based spectroscopies-used to probe theoretically suggested altermagnetism. In particular, we review recent studies on the altermagnetic candidate RuO2, whose magnetic ground state remains under debate with conflicting experimental results, organizing the discussion according to the experimental techniques. Furthermore, we highlight recent findings on fully strained RuO2 thin films that emphasize the critical role of strain in the emergence of altermagnetism. We believe that this review will provide not only practical guidelines for investigating altermagnetic systems but also valuable insights toward reaching consensus on the ongoing controversies surrounding RuO2's altermagnetism.

The need for processing complex and temporal datasets has increased with the rise of artificial intelligence. In this context, reservoir computing, which utilizes the short-term memory of the reservoir to map input data into a high-dimensional space, has gathered significant interest. In this study, for the first time, fully CMOS-compatible reservoir computing is demonstrated through gate insulator stack engineering. Integrated on a single wafer, CMOS circuits, Al2O3/Si3N4 (A/N) devices for both reservoir and leaky integrate-and-fire neuron applications, and Al2O3/Si3N4/SiO2 (A/N/O) devices as synaptic devices are verified. Furthermore, the influence of various bias conditions on reservoir performance is analyzed. The proposed co-integrated reservoir computing system efficiently handles temporal data, reducing ~ 53% of network resources with only ~ 0.17%p accuracy drop while being robust to device variations.