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Nature Materials (2026)
Antiferromagnets with parity–time symmetry host intriguing optical and transport phenomena governed by quantum metric, as the counterpart, Berry curvature, vanishes under parity–time symmetry. In antiferromagnets with parity–time symmetry, the intrinsic photovoltaic effect, driven by the interband quantum metric associated with optically allowed transitions, is expected due to the inversion symmetry breaking induced by antiferromagnetic order, but experimental demonstration has remained elusive. Here we report the experimental observation of an intrinsic photovoltaic effect in a two-dimensional antiferromagnet with parity–time symmetry, bilayer CrSBr. Notably, the intrinsic photocurrent reverses sign according to the antiferromagnetic configurations. Moreover, by manipulating the magnetic field and device architecture (the top and bottom contacts), we distinctly identify layer-resolved intrinsic photocurrent responses. A tight-binding model based on the band-resolved quantum-metric-driven magnetic injection current mechanism is proposed to interpret these observations and reveal the layer-localized nature of the quantum metric. Our findings provide a promising strategy for developing switchable photovoltaic devices and engineering the spatial quantum geometry in layered antiferromagnets.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available via figshare at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.31827727 (ref. 58). Source data are provided with this paper.
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We thank M. Ishida for the support on schematic diagram preparation and Y.-M. Xie and F. Qin for the fruitful discussions. K.W. and T.T. acknowledge support from the JSPS KAKENHI (grant nos 21H05233 and 23H02052), the JST CREST (JPMJCR24A5) and the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), MEXT, Japan. Synthetic and structural work at Columbia was supported by the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) on Precision-Assembled Quantum Materials through National Science Foundation (NSF) award DMR-2011738, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under award FA9550-22-1-0389. Y.D. was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (grant no. JP22J22007). Y.M.I. was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (grant no. JP24K17008). T.M. was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (grant nos 23K25816, 23K17665 and 24H02231) T.I. was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (grant nos JP23H00088, JP24H01176, JP25H00839 and JP25H02117), JST FOREST (grant no. JPMJFR213A) and JST CREST (grant no. JPMJCR25A3).
Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan
Yu Dong, Miuko Tanaka & Toshiya Ideue
RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Wako, Japan
Yu Dong, Yuki M. Itahashi, Shingo Toyoda, Naoki Ogawa & Yoshihiro Iwasa
Department of Applied Physics, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Sota Kitamura & Takahiro Morimoto
Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Daniel G. Chica & Xavier Roy
Research Center for Electronic and Optical Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan
Kenji Watanabe
Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan
Takashi Taniguchi
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Y.D., Y.I. and T.I. conceived the idea and designed the experiments. Y.D. built the photocurrent measurement system, prepared the devices and measured the experimental data under the supervision of T.I. and Y.I.; S.K. and T.M. performed the theoretical calculation. Y.M.I. supported the transport measurements. M.T. supported the atomic force microscope characterization. S.T. and N.O. supported the SHG measurements. D.G.C. and X.R. synthesized the CrSBr crystals. K.W. and T.T. synthesized the hBN crystals. Y.D., S.K. and T.I. wrote the paper with input from all authors.
Correspondence to Yoshihiro Iwasa or Toshiya Ideue.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Materials thanks Kenneth Burch and the other, 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.
a, The optical and atomic force microscope images of a CrSBr flake with multiple layer numbers. b, CrSBr flake thickness along the black line in a. The thickness of each step is approximately 0.8 nm, consistent with the thickness of monolayer CrSBr41. c, The red color contrast analysis of CrSBr flakes. The layer number of CrSBr can be determined by combining this contrast analysis with the thickness measurements by atomic force microscope.
Source data
The AFM configuration of 2 L CrSBr can be intentionally selected by controlling the FM configuration of 1 L CrSBr, due to the ‘layer-sharing’ effect47. By sweeping the magnetic field from -B to 0 T, AFM configuration A can be selected, whereas sweeping from +B to 0 T results in the selection of AFM configuration B.
a, b, c, The transport results of 2 L CrSBr along a axis. a, The temperature dependence of 2 L CrSBr conductance along the a axis. b, c, The in-plane magnetic field dependence of 2 L CrSBr conductance along the a axis at 10 K and 160 K. d, e, f, The transport results of 2 L CrSBr along the b axis. d, The temperature dependence of 2 L CrSBr conductance along the b axis. e, f, The in-plane magnetic field dependence of 2 L CrSBr conductance along the b axis at 10 K and 160 K. The magnetic field is applied along the easy axis (b axis). Vds for b, e is 1 V and 0.1 V for the other measurements.
Source data
a, The schematics of bottom contact 2 L CrSBr device fabrication process. b, The schematics of top contact 2 L CrSBr device fabrication process.
a, PL spectrum of 2 L CrSBr with laser linear polarization aligned to b and a axis. b, PL spectrum of 2 L CrSBr under the in-plane magnetic field (B // b) of 0.3 T and 0 T. c, d, The magnetic field dependence of 2 L CrSBr PL spectrum. c corresponds to -B to + B scan, d corresponds to +B to -B scan. A small hysteresis is observed in PL spectrum near the coercive field during the up and down scans.
Source data
Supplementary Figs. 1–20 and discussion.
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Dong, Y., Kitamura, S., Itahashi, Y.M. et al. Layer photovoltaic effect in a two-dimensional antiferromagnet with parity–time symmetry. Nat. Mater. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02593-8
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