Quantum chips love microwaves, fiber optics love transmitting light—there’s a missing piece in the middle: a “translator.” This time, the City University of New York (CCNY) uses a two-dimensional magnetic semiconductor to write microwave signals into reflected light.
The material is called CrSBr (chromium bromide sulfide). When microwaves set it in motion, the magnetic moments in the crystal collectively start to oscillate, forming magnons (magnetic quasiparticles). The magnons then shuffle the energy of excitons (electron–hole pairs). Shine a laser on it, and coherent optical signals synchronized with the microwave appear in the reflected light. According to the press release, the conversion bandwidth is about 300 MHz, and with an additional magnetic field they can tune the operating frequency. Even more remarkable: they observed it in the bulk crystal, without forcing it using optical or microwave resonant cavities.
Paper: “Nature Materials,” DOI 10.1038/s41563-026-02748-7 (2026-09-14). CCNY’s press release matches EurekAlert’s wording. Note: this is a mechanism demonstration—moving a single quantum state cleanly is the first step, but efficiency and noise still need improvement.
Figure: CCNY Menon Lab press-release schematic + paper Fig. concept diagram (non-AI)
#科研 #quantum
The material is called CrSBr (chromium bromide sulfide). When microwaves set it in motion, the magnetic moments in the crystal collectively start to oscillate, forming magnons (magnetic quasiparticles). The magnons then shuffle the energy of excitons (electron–hole pairs). Shine a laser on it, and coherent optical signals synchronized with the microwave appear in the reflected light. According to the press release, the conversion bandwidth is about 300 MHz, and with an additional magnetic field they can tune the operating frequency. Even more remarkable: they observed it in the bulk crystal, without forcing it using optical or microwave resonant cavities.
Paper: “Nature Materials,” DOI 10.1038/s41563-026-02748-7 (2026-09-14). CCNY’s press release matches EurekAlert’s wording. Note: this is a mechanism demonstration—moving a single quantum state cleanly is the first step, but efficiency and noise still need improvement.
Figure: CCNY Menon Lab press-release schematic + paper Fig. concept diagram (non-AI)
#科研 #quantum
