Abstract
Spin-orbital interaction of light attracts much attention in nanophotonics opening new horizons for modern optical systems and devices. The photonic spin Hall effect or Imbert-Fedorov shift takes a special place among the variety of spin-orbital interaction phenomena. It exhibits as a polarization-dependent transverse light shift usually observed in specular scattering of light at interfaces with anisotropic materials. Nevertheless, the effect of the polarization mixing caused by anisotropy on the Imbert-Fedorov shift is commonly underestimated. In this work, we demonstrate that polarization mixing contribution cannot be ignored for a broad range of optical systems. In particular, we show the dominant influence of the mixing term over the standard one for the polarized optical beam incident at a quarter-wave plate within the paraxial approximation. Moreover, our study reveals a novel contribution with extraordinary polarization dependence not observable within the simplified approach. We believe that these results advance the understanding of photonic spin Hall effect and open new opportunities for spin-dependent optical phenomena.
Highlights
Light, as well as mechanical objects, possesses three fundamental constants of motion associated with special symmetry conditions and commuting with the Hamiltonian under the Poisson brackets—energy, momentum, and angular momentum [1]
Contribution on linear and angular IF shifts for a conventional quarter-wave plate (QWP), which is a typical birefringent slab used in optical beam shifts investigation
We have investigated the influence of medium anisotropy on the IF shifts and the photonic spin Hall effect’ (PSHE) of the polarized optical beams within the paraxial approximation in reflection and transmission
Summary
As well as mechanical objects, possesses three fundamental constants of motion associated with special symmetry conditions (namely, homogeneity of time, homogeneity and isotropy of space) and commuting with the Hamiltonian under the Poisson brackets—energy, momentum, and angular momentum [1]. Spin-orbital interactions of light lead to a number of phenomena and applications including spin-dependent effects such as optical beam shifts and spin-Hall effects in inhomogeneous media and at optical interfaces [7], spin-controlled light manipulation using anisotropic and chiral structures as converters and generators [8], robust spin-directional coupling resulting in the transverse [7,9,10] and longitudinal [11] spin angular momentum of the surface plasmon-polariton. Another appealing feature related to spin-orbit interactions is the shifts of optical beams. We believe these results will complement the modern theory of optical beam shifts and will significantly enrich their application areas
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