Researchers at The Ohio State University found that photoexcited excitons inside the two-dimensional antiferromagnet CrSBr operate as a direct source of spin torque. In a peer-reviewed paper published September 14, 2026, in Nature Materials, physicists Wenyi Zhou and Roland K. Kawakami established that these photoexcited excitons drive nonlinear magnon dynamics. The underlying energy exchange remains phase-coherent and persists well beyond the initial optical pulse.
Zhou and Kawakami conducted their investigations within the Department of Physics at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Their research centers on the two-dimensional antiferromagnet CrSBr, identifying how optical pulses prompt persistent magnetic motions through exciton-driven torque. The researchers formally declared that they have no competing interests.
Bibliographic records attached to the study cite fundamental research across spintronics and ultrafast optical control. Key references include 2008 work on spin torques by Ralph and Stiles, a 2019 review by Manchon and co-authors, and earlier analyses by Kirilyuk, Kimel, and Rasing in 2010. The paper also incorporates 2026 studies by Brennan and colleagues along with work by Varela-Manjarres, Ren, and Nikolić.
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