纽约城市学院研究人员在《Nature Materials》期刊发表综述文章《Excitons in van der Waals magnetic materials》，阐述了原子级薄材料中光与磁相互作用的最新进展[1]。该综述由Vinod M. Menon的纳米与微光子实验室（LaNMP）团队完成，第一作者为Pratap Chandra Adak[1]。
研究聚焦于范德瓦尔斯磁性半导体中的激子与磁有序的耦合现象[1]。在三碘化铬、磷化镍三硫化物和溴化硫化铬等二维磁体中，光生激子可与磁有序和磁振子相互作用[1]。Adak指出："在这些材料中，光和磁不再作为分离的通道运作"[1]。Menon进一步表示，该领域已从"在原子级薄晶体中检测磁性发展到积极探索磁有序如何控制光-物质相互作用"[1]。
这一发现为多种应用奠定基础[1]。研究团队指出，磁光耦合有望在磁光存储、全光逻辑、可调光发射器、磁光激光器和偏振子技术等领域开辟新途径[1]。该项工作由美国国防高等研究计划局（DARPA）和Gordon and Betty Moore基金会资助[1]。
Researchers at City College of New York have published a comprehensive review in Nature Materials examining how light and magnetism interact in atomically thin materials.[1] The review, titled "Excitons in van der Waals magnetic materials," comes from Vinod M. Menon's Laboratory for Nano and Micro Photonics (LaNMP) and explores how photon-generated excitons can couple with magnetic ordering and magnons in van der Waals magnetic semiconductors.[1]
The work demonstrates that in these two-dimensional magnetic materials—including chromium triiodide, nickel phosphide trisulfide, and chromium sulfide bromide—light and magnetism no longer function as separate channels.[1] According to Pratap Chandra Adak, the review's lead author, "In these materials, light and magnetism no longer operate as separated channels."[1] Vinod M. Menon added that the field has progressed from simply detecting magnetism in atomic-scale thin crystals to actively investigating how magnetic ordering can control light-matter interactions.[1]
The emerging applications of this research span multiple technological domains, including magneto-optical storage, all-optical logic, tunable light emitters, magneto-optical lasers, and polarization devices.[1] The research was supported by DARPA and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.[1]