Rotational spin Hall effect in a uniaxial crystal

Abstract

We have considered the propagation process of the phase-matched array of singular beams through a uniaxial crystal. We have revealed that local beams in the array are rotated when propagating. However the right and left rotations are unequal. There are at least two processes responsible for the array rotation: the interference of local beams and the spatial depolarization. The interference takes place in the vortex birth and annihilation events forming the symmetrical part of the rotation. The depolarization process contributes to the asymmetry of the rotation that is called the rotational spin Hall effect. It can be brought to light due to the difference between the envelopes of the dependences of the angular displacement on the inclination angle of the local beams or the crystal length reaching the value of some angular degree. The direction of the additional array rotation is exclusively defined by the handedness of the circular polarization in the initial beam array.