We discovered an effective way to magnetically control Bose-Einstein condensates in the van der Waals magnet chromium sulfide bromide (CrSBr). Under photoexcitation, polariton condensation develops in CrSBr microwires embedded in an optical cavity. Owing to the strong coupling between the spin order and excitonic correlations, the energy of the condensate can be selectively tuned using an external magnetic field. This offers promising prospects for magnetic memory devices and the efficient conversion of microwave radiation into optical signals. Our results open a new interface between quantum optics and spintronics and enable exciting concepts for future quantum information processing.
The results, obtained in close collaboration with the groups of Florian Dirnberger (Technical University of Munich), Jan Wilhelm (University of Regensburg) and Zdeněk Sofer (University of Chemistry and Technology Prague), have been published in Nature Materials.
Press release UR (eng).
Publication:
H. Zhang, N. Nilforoushan, C. Weidgans, T. Inzenhofer, M. Liebich, J. Riepl, J. Hirschmann, I. Gronwald, K. Mosina, Z. Sofer, R. Tyagi, J. Wilhelm, F. Mooshammer, F. Dirnberger, and R. Huber, „Magnetic control of an exciton–polariton condensate in a van der Waals magnet“, Nature Materials (2026), DOI: 10.1038/s41563-026-02751-y
