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How does antiferromagnetism produce no overall magnetization?

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Diagram showing a circular loop of wire with an electric current, surrounded by curved blue lines representing magnetic field lines that loop around the wire and pass through its center. — magnetism Some lines of the magnetic field B (blue) for an electric current I (gold) in a loop.

In antiferromagnetism, the lack of overall magnetization occurs because the magnetic dipole moments of adjacent atoms spontaneously align in an antiparallel (opposite) arrangement.123

This ordering is driven by exchange interactions that favor these alternating spin directions. Because the material contains an equal number of dipoles of the same size pointing in opposite directions, the magnetism from atoms oriented in one direction is effectively canceled out by those aligned in the reverse direction. Consequently, the substance exhibits no net spontaneous magnetization on a macroscopic scale.134

This ordered state persists below a characteristic transition temperature known as the Néel temperature. Above this temperature, thermal energy disrupts the antiparallel alignment, and the material transitions into a paramagnetic state.142