Microwave-to-optical transduction using magnon–exciton coupling

Nature Materials (2026) Cite this article Quantum networks require coherent interfaces between microwave-frequency quantum systems and low-loss optical links. However, existing microwave–optical transducers often trade conversion efficiency against added noise, bandwidth and device integrability. Here we use magnon–exciton coupling in the layered antiferromagnet CrSBr to realize coherent microwave-to-optical transduction. Unlike previous magnon-based approaches that rely on intrinsically weak off-resonant magneto-optical effects, our scheme exploits strong light–matter interactions at exciton resonances. Driving the antiferromagnetic resonance with microwaves modulates the resonant excitonic susceptibility and generates coherent optical sidebands, detected using homodyne interferometry. Even in a bulk crystal without cavity enhancement, we observe coherent conversion over an intrinsically broadband ~300-MHz window. Multiple exciton–polariton resonances inherit the magnon-coupled response, indicating a route to broaden the usable optical detuning range and mitigate optical dissipation. Magnon-coupled excitons in layered magnets thus offer a scalable platform for broadband microwave–optical interfaces, with higher cooperativity achievable through reduced magnetic volume and cavity integration. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription $32.99 / 30 days cancel any timeSubscribe to this journal Receive 12 print issues and online access $259.00 per yearonly $21.58 per issueBuy this articleUSD 39.95Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkoutThe experimental data underlying the figures in the main text are available via Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21892117 (ref. 52).Kurizki, G. et al. Quantum technologies with hybrid systems. 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Experimental data for “Microwave-to-optical transduction using magnon–exciton coupling”. Zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21892117 (2026).Download referencesWe acknowledge A. V. Dharmapalan and A. Mahendranath for help with experiments, S. U. Dider and A. Arora for help in PCB fabrication and S. Mandal, R. Verma and M. Shmukler for discussions about microwave measurements.Work at City College was primarily supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES), under Award DE-SC0025302 (microwave spectroscopy), DARPA grant HR0011-25-3-0107 (design and fabrication of microwave waveguides) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation grant 12764 (optical spectroscopy). Z.S. was supported by project LUAUS25268 from the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports (MEYS), ERC-CZ program (project LL2101) from Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) and by the project Advanced Functional Nanorobots (reg. number CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000444 financed by the EFRR) (growth and synthesis). K.M. was supported from the grant of Specific university research – grant number A1_FCHT_2025_013 (growth and synthesis). Synthesis work at Columbia was supported by the Materials Science and Engineering Research Center (MRSEC) on Precision Assembly of Quantum Materials (PAQM) through NSF award DMR-2011738. A.K. was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) via Spin+X TRR 173-268565370, project A13. A.A. acknowledges support from the Office of Naval Research with grant number N000142612008.Department of Physics, City College of New York, New York, NY, USAPratap Chandra Adak, Iris E. McDaniel, Suvodeep Paul, Caleb Heuvel-Horwitz, Bikash Das & Vinod M. MenonDepartment of Physics, Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), New York, NY, USACaleb Heuvel-Horwitz, Andrea Alú & Vinod M. MenonPhotonics Initiative, CUNY Advanced Science Research Center, New York, NY, USAVitali Kozlov, Arno Thielens & Andrea AlúDepartment of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Prague, Czech RepublicKseniia Mosina & Zdeněk SoferDepartment of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USAArun Ramanathan & Xavier RoyPritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USATian ZhongDepartment of Physics and Research Center OPTIMAS, Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität, Kaiserslautern, GermanyAkashdeep KamraDepartment of Electrical Engineering, The City College of New York, New York, NY, USAAndrea AlúSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarP.C.A. and V.M.M. conceived the project. P.C.A. designed the experiments, led the measurements and developed the analysis framework. K.M., A.R., X.R. and Z.S. synthesized the CrSBr crystals. P.C.A. and I.E.M. performed the device fabrication. I.E.M. carried out the data analysis and visualization under P.C.A.’s guidance. P.C.A. developed the theoretical model, with input from C.H.-H. Assistance with the experiments was provided by S.P., I.E.M. and B.D. Contributions to the microwave spectroscopy set-up were provided by V.K. under the supervision of A.T. and A.A. Insights into the transduction mechanism were provided by T.Z. and A.K. The paper was written by P.C.A., with input from I.E.M. and V.M.M. All authors commented on the paper. V.M.M. supervised the project.Correspondence to Pratap Chandra Adak or Vinod M. Menon.P.C.A. and V.M.M. have a patent pending. The other authors declare no competing interests.Nature Materials thanks the anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available.Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Supplementary Figs. 1–14, Discussion and Tables 1–4.Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.Reprints and permissionsAdak, P.C., McDaniel, I.E., Paul, S. et al. Microwave-to-optical transduction using magnon–exciton coupling. Nat. Mater. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02748-7Download citationReceived: 25 March 2026Accepted: 22 August 2026Published: 14 September 2026Version of record: 14 September 2026DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02748-7Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative