TY - JOUR
T1 - Cavity-altered superconductivity
AU - Keren, Itai
AU - Webb, Tatiana A.
AU - Zhang, Shuai
AU - Xu, Jikai
AU - Sun, Dihao
AU - Kim, Brian S.Y.
AU - Shin, Dongbin
AU - Zhang, Songtian S.
AU - Zhang, Junhe
AU - Pereira, Giancarlo
AU - Yao, Juntao
AU - Okugawa, Takuya
AU - Michael, Marios H.
AU - Viñas Boström, Emil
AU - Edgar, James H.
AU - Wolf, Stuart
AU - Julian, Matthew
AU - Prasankumar, Rohit P.
AU - Miyagawa, Kazuya
AU - Kanoda, Kazushi
AU - Gu, Genda
AU - Cothrine, Matthew
AU - Mandrus, David
AU - Buzzi, Michele
AU - Cavalleri, Andrea
AU - Dean, Cory R.
AU - Kennes, Dante M.
AU - Millis, Andrew J.
AU - Li, Qiang
AU - Sentef, Michael A.
AU - Rubio, Angel
AU - Pasupathy, Abhay N.
AU - Basov, D. N.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2026.
PY - 2026/2/26
Y1 - 2026/2/26
N2 - Is it feasible to alter the ground-state properties of a material by engineering its electromagnetic environment? Inspired by theoretical predictions1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11–12, experimental realizations of such cavity-controlled properties without optical excitation are beginning to emerge13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18–19. Here we devised and implemented a new platform to realize cavity-altered materials. Single crystals of hyperbolic van der Waals (vdW) compounds provide a resonant electromagnetic environment with enhanced density of photonic states and prominent mode confinement20, 21, 22, 23–24. We interfaced hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) with the molecular superconductor κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu[N(CN)2]Br (κ-ET). The frequencies of infrared hyperbolic modes (HMs) of hBN (refs. 25,26) match the infrared-active carbon–carbon (C=C) stretching molecular resonance of κ-ET implicated in superconductivity27. Nano-optical data supported by first-principles molecular Langevin dynamics simulations confirm the presence of resonant coupling between the hBN hyperbolic cavity modes and the C=C stretching mode in κ-ET. Meissner-effect measurements using magnetic force microscopy (MFM) demonstrate a strong suppression of superfluid density near the hBN/κ-ET interface. Non-resonant control heterostructures, including RuCl3/κ-ET and hBN/Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x (BSCCO), do not show the pronounced superfluid suppression. These observations suggest that hBN/κ-ET realizes a cavity-altered superconducting ground state. Our work highlights the potential of dark cavities devoid of external photons for engineering electronic ground-state properties of complex quantum materials.
AB - Is it feasible to alter the ground-state properties of a material by engineering its electromagnetic environment? Inspired by theoretical predictions1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11–12, experimental realizations of such cavity-controlled properties without optical excitation are beginning to emerge13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18–19. Here we devised and implemented a new platform to realize cavity-altered materials. Single crystals of hyperbolic van der Waals (vdW) compounds provide a resonant electromagnetic environment with enhanced density of photonic states and prominent mode confinement20, 21, 22, 23–24. We interfaced hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) with the molecular superconductor κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu[N(CN)2]Br (κ-ET). The frequencies of infrared hyperbolic modes (HMs) of hBN (refs. 25,26) match the infrared-active carbon–carbon (C=C) stretching molecular resonance of κ-ET implicated in superconductivity27. Nano-optical data supported by first-principles molecular Langevin dynamics simulations confirm the presence of resonant coupling between the hBN hyperbolic cavity modes and the C=C stretching mode in κ-ET. Meissner-effect measurements using magnetic force microscopy (MFM) demonstrate a strong suppression of superfluid density near the hBN/κ-ET interface. Non-resonant control heterostructures, including RuCl3/κ-ET and hBN/Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x (BSCCO), do not show the pronounced superfluid suppression. These observations suggest that hBN/κ-ET realizes a cavity-altered superconducting ground state. Our work highlights the potential of dark cavities devoid of external photons for engineering electronic ground-state properties of complex quantum materials.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105031052867
U2 - 10.1038/s41586-025-10062-6
DO - 10.1038/s41586-025-10062-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 41741741
AN - SCOPUS:105031052867
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 650
SP - 864
EP - 868
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 8103
ER -