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Role of photonic interference in exciton-mediated magneto-optic responses

Güven Budak1,2,3, Christian Riedel1,2, Akashdeep Kamra4, Patrick Rinke2,5,6, Christian Back1,2,3, Matthias Stosiek2,5,6,*, and Florian Dirnberger1,2,3,†

  • *Contact author: matthias.stosiek@tum.de
  • †Contact author: f.dirnberger@tum.de
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Phys. Rev. B 114, 094405 – Published 3 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/lclk-3tfl

Abstract

Coupled optical and magnetic excitations can give rise to remarkably strong magneto-optic responses. This is particularly evident in van der Waals magnets, such as the antiferromagnet CrSBr, where excitons and magnons emerge from the same electronic orbitals. While previous work has primarily focused on uncovering the origin of the resulting exciton-magnon interactions, the influence of photonic effects has received comparatively little attention. Here, we use numerical simulations to disentangle exciton-magnon coupling from the exciton-mediated magnon-photon interactions observed in optical experiments. By simulating realistic scenarios using parameters determined by experiments, we illustrate the strong dependence of these interactions on photonic interference and dispersion effects near excitonic resonances. Such effects shape the optical response to coherent magnons and make it intrinsically nonlinear in the magnon-induced exciton energy shift. Thermal magnons, which have a particularly pronounced impact on excitons, are found to even produce qualitatively different trends in optical signatures. Depending on weak or strong coupling of excitons and photons, the same exciton-magnon interaction can lead to a redshift of optical modes, a nearly vanishing response, or their blueshift. Finally, we demonstrate steps towards optimizing the multiparameter problem of efficient magnon-photon transduction using a machine-learning approach.

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Phys. Rev. B 114, 094405– Published 3 August, 2026
  • Received 9 March 2026
  • Revised 4 June 2026
  • Accepted 13 July 2026
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