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Light-confining device can control superconductivity — even in the dark
- NEWS AND VIEWS
- 25 February 2026
Light-confining device can control superconductivity — even in the dark
A device based on light-confining materials can modify superconductivity using quantum fluctuations, without the need for external illumination.
Angela Montanaro http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1856-01750 &
Daniele Fausti1
Angela Montanaro
Angela Montanaro is in the Department of Physics, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen–Nuremberg, Erlangen 91058, Germany.
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Daniele Fausti
Daniele Fausti is in the Department of Physics, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen–Nuremberg, Erlangen 91058, Germany.
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Changing the properties of a material is generally achieved by modifying its chemical composition or tuning an external factor such as temperature, pressure or magnetic field. However, an emerging approach, known as cavity materials engineering, aims to control the properties of matter using lighttrapping devices called optical cavities1,2. By confining light, a cavity can enhance its effective interaction with a nearby material and thereby modify the material’s properties. Surprisingly, this effect can occur without illumination. Writing in Nature, Keren et al.3 report that a specific type of optical cavity can cause strong, localized suppression of superconductivity when coupled with an organic superconductor.
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Nature 650, 839-840 (2026)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00296-3
References
Garcia-Vidal, F. J., Ciuti, C. & Ebbesen, T. W. Science 373, eabd0336 (2021).
Schlawin, F., Kennes, D. M. & Sentef, A. M. Appl. Phys. Rev. 9, 011312 (2022).
Keren, I. et al. Nature 650, 864–868 (2026).
Thomas, A. et al. Nano Lett. 21, 4365–4370 (2021).
Appugliese, F. et al. Science 375, 1030–1034 (2022).
Jarc, G. et al. Nature 622, 487–492 (2023).
Buzzi, M. et al. Phys. Rev. X 10, 031028 (2020).
Competing Interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
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Subjects
Condensed-matter physics
Materials science
Quantum physics
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