diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 8a35d947..bd50b6b2 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ num = { version = "0.4.3" }
 rand = { version = "0.8.5" }
 tinyvec = { version = "1.6.1" }
 rayon = { version = "1.10.0" }
-atomic = { version = "0.5.3" } # further upgrade == breaking change
+atomic = { version = "0.6.0" }
+bytemuck = { version = "1.16.1" }
 hwlocality = { version = "1.0.0-alpha.5" } 
 libc = { version = "0.2.155" }
 rustc-hash = { version = "2.0.0" }
diff --git a/fastiron/Cargo.toml b/fastiron/Cargo.toml
index 037270c8..6343ef66 100644
--- a/fastiron/Cargo.toml
+++ b/fastiron/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ num = { workspace = true }
 rand = { workspace = true, features = ["small_rng"] }
 tinyvec = { workspace = true }
 rayon = { workspace = true }
-atomic = { workspace = true } # further upgrade == breaking change
+atomic = { workspace = true }
+bytemuck = { workspace = true }
 hwlocality = { workspace = true } 
 libc = { workspace = true }
 rustc-hash = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/fastiron/src/constants.rs b/fastiron/src/constants.rs
index 09d013f3..884df24e 100644
--- a/fastiron/src/constants.rs
+++ b/fastiron/src/constants.rs
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ pub trait CustomReferenceFloat: Float + FromPrimitive {
 pub trait CustomFloat:
     Float
     + CustomReferenceFloat
+    + bytemuck::Pod
     + Default
     // conversions
     + FromPrimitive
@@ -140,6 +141,7 @@ impl CustomReferenceFloat for f64 {
 impl<
         T: Float
             + CustomReferenceFloat
+            + bytemuck::Pod
             + Default
             + FromPrimitive
             + FromStr
diff --git a/fastiron/src/lib.rs b/fastiron/src/lib.rs
index 0f526c91..0c45c8d4 100644
--- a/fastiron/src/lib.rs
+++ b/fastiron/src/lib.rs
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@
 //! [2]: https://github.com/cea-hpc/fastiron
 
 #![warn(clippy::disallowed_types)]
+#![allow(clippy::doc_lazy_continuation)] // TODO: remove & fix lints
 
 pub mod constants;
 pub mod data;