Magneto-optics articles from across Nature Portfolio

Ultrafast light-induced driving of phonons at resonance in a substrate facilitates the permanent reversal of the magnetic state of a material mounted on it.

Here, the authors perform Faraday rotation spectroscopy around the excitonic transitions in hBN-encapsulated WSe₂ and MoSe₂ monolayers, and interlayer excitons in MoS₂ bilayers. They measure a large Verdet constant - 1.9 × 10⁷ deg T⁻¹cm⁻¹ for monolayers, and attribute it to the giant oscillator strength and high g-factor of the excitons.

The researchers showcase swept-coded aperture real-time femtophotography—an all-optical single-shot computational imaging modality at up to 156.3 trillion frames per second—video-records transient absorption in a semiconductor and ultrafast demagnetization of a metal alloy.

Here the authors propose an isotropic three-dimensional metamaterial with nonreciprocal magnetoelectric resonant responses at visible and mid-infrared frequencies. The proposed metamaterials do not require external magnetization.

Platforms enabling control over strong light–matter interactions in optical cavities provide a challenging but promising way to manipulate emergent light–matter hybrids. Spin selectivity of transitions has now been demonstrated in a two-dimensional hole gas microcavity system, paving the way towards the study of new spin physics phenomena in hybrid excitations.

Current-inducing switching of magnetization is crucial for future magnetic data processing technologies, but switching it with speed and energy efficiency remains challenging. Using femtosecond optical pulses, instead of conventional charge currents, is found to make spintronics not only ultrafast but also counterintuitive.

Non-reciprocal physical systems exhibit direction-dependent propagation of light, enabling a myriad of devices such as diodes and circulators. A new experiment demonstrates non-reciprocal amplification of light via atomic spins, driving photons on a one-way street through optical nanofibres.

Plasmonic lasers display many unique features, but these were so far unrelated to magnetism. Recent research shows that plasmonic lasers can be switched on and off magnetically.