2023-08-18 12:45:05
Scientists have carried out a series of surprising experiments with a multilayer magnet that is capable of holding excitons (quasiparticles, in this case with particularly strong optical interactions). Therefore, the material is capable of trapping light by itself.
As experiments show, the optical responses of this material to magnetic phenomena are orders of magnitude stronger than those of typical magnets. For example, when an external magnetic field is applied, the reflection of near-infrared light is altered so much that the material essentially changes color. That’s a pretty strong magneto-optic response.
This research is the work of a team made up of, among others, Florian Dirnberger and Vinod M. Menon, both from CCNY (City College of New York) in the United States, and Francisco J. García-Vidal, from the Autonomous University of Madrid ( UAM) in Spain.
Light generally does not respond as strongly to magnetism. This is why technological applications based on magneto-optical effects often require the addition of ultrasensitive optical detection technology.
The proven new type of magnet may hold the key to the development of the next generation of magnetic lasers and more advanced magneto-optical memory devices, as well as applications in the emerging field of quantum transduction.
Light trapped inside a magnetic crystal can greatly enhance its magneto-optic interactions. (Image: Rezlind Bushati)
Dirnberger and his colleagues present in the academic journal Nature the technical details of their latest advances in this line of research and development, under the title “Magneto-optics in a van der Waals magnet tuned by self-hybridized polaritons”. (Source: NCYT from Amazings)
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