Plasmonic Vortex Research Articles

Prospects for the use of plasmonic vortices to control nanosystems

Fueled by the rapid pace of technological advancements, the convergence of ideas from optics and solid-state physics is yielding valuable insights into the fundamental principles governing interactions between light and matter at the nanoscale, as well as paving the way for future technologies. In this review, we explore a burgeoning avenue that investigates the synergy between plasmonics and optical vortex concepts. The excitation of plasmon modes with phase dislocations, occasionally referred to as plasmonic vortices, has revealed novel facets of physics. One particularly promising expansion of this field pertains to the manipulation of nearby nanostructures. Consequently, we provide commentary on the associated research, which offers innovative solutions to a variety of technological challenges.

Controllable optical tweezer and spanner in evanescent fields via a single plasmonic metasurface

A dual-functional plasmonic metasurface is proposed to realize trapping and rotation of microparticles in evanescent fields by simply changing the polarization of incident light. The metasurface is constituted with subwavelength rectangular nanoslit that is perforated in an Au film on the glass substrate. Simulated near-field intensity distributions show that surface plasmon vortex with designed topological charge and focused point with enhanced intensity can be controllably generated in the center region of the designed metasurface by different circularly polarized lights. Calculated optical force and optical potential on a polystyrene sphere further demonstrate the good performances of rotating and trapping a microparticle with the generated vortex and focused surface plasmon polaritons. Moreover, two examples designed with different topological charges demonstrate the flexibility of these metasurfaces in tuning the rotation radius of microparticles. The advantages of the proposed metasurface in design flexibility, multifunctionality, and small size may provide new possibilities for applications of integrated optical manipulation devices and systems.

Plasmonic Toroidal Vortices

AbstractToroidal vortices, or vortex rings, are torus‐shaped vortices observed in various fluid systems. Recently, optical toroidal vortices, novel solutions to Maxwell's equations, have been experimentally observed (Nat. Photonics, 2022, 16, 519). Thus, their nanoplasmonic counterparts, namely plasmonic toroidal vortices, are highly anticipated. This study aims to elucidate the generation and manifestation of plasmonic toroidal vortices. To achieve this, a technique involving the illumination of a gold nanotorus with a radially‐polarized beam is employed. Notably, the plasmonic toroidal vortices exhibit a distinct photon flow trajectory along the minor radius of a nanotorus. This work presents an advancement in toroidal vortices within the plasmonic regime.

Spatiotemporal modulation of ultrafast plasmonic vortices with spin–orbit coupling

The vortex field of surface plasmon polariton with orbital angular momentum (OAM), called plasmonic vortex, has played an important role in various research fields. However, the spatiotemporal properties of plasmonic vortex pulses excited by ultrafast laser, especially the dynamics of spin‒orbit coupling in the ultrafast plasmonic vortex field, have yet to be investigated deeply. Here, we study the spatiotemporal modulation of ultrafast plasmonic vortices with spin‒orbit coupling, using both analytical and simulation methods. The ultrafast plasmonic vortices are excited by a ring-shaped plasmonic lens, with an incident light composed of two time-delayed femtosecond sub-pulses carrying the same OAM but orthogonal circular polarizations. The dynamics of time-varying electric field, energy flow and angular momentum distributions of the plasmonic vortices are demonstrated, revealing details of the spin‒orbit coupling in spatiotemporal domain, such as the merging of multiple phase singularities with energy flow loops, and the variation of spin/orbital angular momentum per photon over time. This work could deepen the understanding of spin‒orbit coupling in plasmonic field and provide new ideas for ultrafast on-chip optical information processing.

Temporally deuterogenic plasmonic vortices

Abstract Over the past decade, orbital angular momentum has garnered considerable interest in the field of plasmonics owing to the emergence of surface-confined vortices, known as plasmonic vortices. Significant progress has been made in the generation and manipulation of plasmonic vortices, which broadly unveil the natures of plasmonic spin–orbit coupling and provide accessible means for light–matter interactions. However, traditional characterizations in the frequency domain miss some detailed information on the plasmonic vortex evolution process. Herein, an exotic spin–orbit coupling phenomenon is demonstrated. More specifically, we theoretically investigated and experimentally verified a temporally deuterogenic vortex mode, which can be observed only in the time domain and interferes destructively in the intensity field. The spatiotemporal evolution of this concomitant vortex can be tailored with different designs and incident beams. This work extends the fundamental understanding of plasmonic spin–orbit coupling and provides a unique optical force manipulation strategy, which may fuel plasmonic research and applications in the near future.

Plasmonic vortices host magnetoelectric interactions

The vector E×H and pseudoscalar E·H products of electric and magnetic fields are separately finite in vacuum transverse electric and magnetic (TEM) plane waves, and angular momentum structured light. Current theories of interactions beyond the standard model of particle physics invoke E·H≠0 as the source term in the axion law that describes interactions with the cosmological dark matter axion particles outside of the quartet of Maxwell's equations. E·H≠0 also drives relativistic spin-charge magnetoelectric excitations of axion quasiparticles at a distinctively higher condensed matter scale in magnetic and topological materials. Yet, how to drive coherent E·H response is unknown, and provides motivation to examine the field polarizations in structured light on a deep subdiffraction limited spatial scale and suboptical cycle temporal scale by ultrafast nonlinear photoemission electron microscopy. By analytical theory and ultrafast coherent photoemission electron microscopy, we image E·H fields in surface plasmon polariton vortex cores at subwavelength scales, where we find that the magnetoelectric relative to the dipole density is intensified on an ∼10-nm-diameter scale as a universal property of plasmonic vortex fields. The generation and nanoscale localization of E·H fields introduces the magnetoelectric symmetry class, having the parity P and time reversal T broken, but the joint PT symmetry preserved. The ability to image the optical fields of plasmonic vortex cores opens the research of ultrafast microscopy of magnetoelectric responses and interactions with axion quasiparticles in solid state materials. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Periodic dynamics of optical skyrmion lattices driven by symmetry

The recently developed concept of optical skyrmions has introduced an exciting dimension to the emerging field of Poincaré engineering in optical lattices. There remains an unexplored territory in investigating system geometries to enhance the versatility of manipulating the topological landscape within optical lattices. Here, we present both experimental and theoretical evidence showcasing the periodic vectorial characteristics of field- and spin-based skyrmion lattices, generated by plasmonic vortices with varying topological charges. Our findings reveal that the geometric symmetry of the system plays a pivotal role in governing the periodic arrangement of these vortex patterns. Building upon this arrangement, the orbital–orbital coupling of plasmonic vortices gives rise to densely packed energy flow distributions, intricately bonded to topological charges. Consequently, this results in the formation of sublattices within the momentum space, each characterized by distinct k-vectors. Skyrmion and meron topologies, driven by the intrinsic spin–orbital coupling, are presented in these lattices. This proposed framework illuminates how symmetry serves as a fundamental tool in the manipulation of optical lattice topologies, opening up new avenues in fields ranging from optical trapping, laser writing, quantum gas microscopy, to electron quantum state control, each of which is poised to benefit from these nontrivial advances.

All-optically controlled holographic plasmonic vortex array for multiple metallic particles manipulation

Due to the sub-diffraction-limited size and giant field enhancement, plasmonic tweezers have a natural advantage in trapping metallic particles. However, the strict excitation condition makes it difficult to generate an arbitrary plasmonic field in a controllable manner, thus narrowing its practical applications. Here, we propose an all-optical plasmonic field shaping method based on a digital holographic algorithm and generate plasmonic vortex arrays with controllable spot numbers, spatial location, and topological charge. Our experimental results demonstrate that multiple gold particles can be stably trapped and synchronously rotated in the vortex arrays, and the particles’ kinestate can be dynamically switched. The proposed holographic plasmonic vortex tweezers are suitable for a broadband particle trapping, and this method can be generalized to other surface electromagnetic waves like Bloch surface wave.

Ultrafast Time Dynamics of Plasmonic Fractional Orbital Angular Momentum.

The creation and manipulation of optical vortices, both in free space and in two-dimensional systems such as surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), has attracted widespread attention in nano-optics due to their robust topological structure. Coupled with strong spatial confinement in the case of SPPs, these plasmonic vortices and their underlying orbital angular momentum (OAM) have promise in novel light-matter interactions on the nanoscale with applications ranging from on-chip particle manipulation to tailored control of plasmonic quasiparticles. Until now, predominantly integer OAM values have been investigated. Here, we measure and analyze the time evolution of fractional OAM SPPs using time-resolved two-photon photoemission electron microscopy and near-field optical microscopy. We experimentally show the field's complex rotational dynamics and observe the beating of integer OAM eigenmodes at fractional OAM excitations. With our ability to access the ultrafast time dynamics of the electric field, we can follow the buildup of the plasmonic fractional OAM during the interference of the converging surface plasmons. By adiabatically increasing the phase discontinuity at the excitation boundary, we track the total OAM, leading to plateaus around integer OAM values that arise from the interplay between intrinsic and extrinsic OAM.

Manipulating plasmonic vortex based on meta-atoms with four rectangular slits.

In this paper, four rectangular slits with the same size and regular rotation angle are regarded as the meta-atom, arranged on circular contours, to create plasmonic vortex lenses (PVLs) solely based on the geometric phase. These PVLs can achieve the same purpose of exciting surface plasmon polariton (SPP) vortices with arbitrary combinations of topological charge (TC) when illuminated by circularly polarized (CP) light with different handedness as the traditional PVLs. Furthermore, they can generate SPP vortices with different TCs and specific constant or varying electric-field intensities when excited by linearly polarized (LP) light, which marks the first instance of this phenomenon solely through geometric phase manipulation. The TC can be dynamically altered by controlling the polarization order of the incident vector beam. These PVLs not only possess advantages in terms of device miniaturization and the creation of a more uniform vortex field, as compared to PVLs based on the transmission phase, but also offer a more straightforward design process in comparison to traditional structures that rely solely on the geometric phase.

High-efficiency plasmonic vortex generation with near-infrared bifunctional metasurfaces.

Plasmonic vortices have shown a wide range of applications in on-chip photonics due to their fascinating properties of the orbital angular momenta (OAM) and phase singularity. However, conventional devices to generate them suffer from issues of low efficiencies and limited functionalities. Here, we establish a systematic scheme to construct high-efficiency bifunctional metasurfaces that can generate two plasmonic vortices exhibiting distinct topological charges, based on a series of reflective meta-atoms exhibiting tailored reflection-phases dictated by both resonant and geometric origins. As a benchmark test, we first construct a meta-coupler with meta-atoms exhibiting geometric phases only, and experimentally demonstrate that it can generate a pre-designed plasmonic vortex at the wavelength of 1064 nm with an efficiency of 27% (56% in simulation). Next, we design/fabricate two bifunctional metasurfaces with meta-atoms integrated with both resonant and geometric phases, and experimentally demonstrate that they can generate divergent (or focused) or convergent (or defocused) plasmonic vortices with district OAM as shined by circularly polarized light with opposite helicity at 1064 nm wavelength. Our work provides an efficient platform to generate plasmonic vortices as desired, which can find many applications in on-chip photonics.

Time-resolved plasmon-assisted generation of optical-vortex pulses

The microscopic mechanism of the light-matter interactions that induce orbital angular momentum (OAM) in electromagnetic fields is not thoroughly understood. In this work, we employ Archimedean spiral vortex generators in time-resolved numerical simulations using the Octopus code to observe the behind-the-scenes of OAM generation. We send a perfect circularly-polarized plane-wave light onto plasmonic optical vortex generators and observe the resulting twisted light formation with complete spatio-temporal information. In agreement with previous works, we find that emission from the plasmonic spiral branches shapes the vortex-like structure and governs the OAM generation in the outgoing electromagnetic field. To characterize the generated beam further, we emulate the emission from vortex generators with current emitters preserving the spiral geometry. We subject a point-particle system to the generated field and record the orbital angular momentum transfer between the electromagnetic field and the point particle. Finally, we probe the OAM density locally by studying the induced classical trajectory of point particles, which provides further insight into the spatio-temporal features of the induced OAM.

Dynamic control of multi-channel plasmonic vector vortex with integer- and fractional-order based on mode extraction

Dynamic control of multi-channel plasmonic vector vortex with integer- and fractional-order based on mode extraction

Microwave Plasmonic Exceptional Points for Enhanced Sensing

AbstractThe emergence of exceptional points in a non‐Hermitian system has provided intriguing possibilities to enhance the sensitivity of a sensor, while it is yet a considerable challenge to implement subwavelength non‐Hermitian systems. One possible solution to tackle this challenge is to take advantage of localized surface plasmon resonances, which enable large electromagnetic enhancement at the subwavelength scale. In this work, a novel sensing scheme based on the exceptional points in a spoof plasmonic structure working at microwave frequencies is proposed. It is shown that near‐field plasmonic vortices can be efficiently generated at the exceptional points, resulting in the enhanced sensitivity when detecting a single particle or fluid analytes. Single particle detection with the particle size as small as 1/100 of the operating wavelength is reported. For liquid analysis in the microfluidic system, the sample consumption is down to 0.72 μL. This work demonstrates the ultrahigh sensitivity of exceptional‐point‐based plasmonic sensing and opens up new possibilities for subwavelength and compact sensors operating in the microwave, terahertz, and even far‐infrared regions.

Controllable plasmonic vortex sequence with on-chip discrete-slit-based metalens

Like free-space vortex beams, surface plasmon polaritons can carry orbital angular momentum to form plasmonic vortices (PVs). Recently, research interest in PV fundamentals and applications has increased. However, generating and manipulating the topological charges of PVs over wide ranges using on-chip devices remains challenging. Here, we propose an on-chip plasmonic metalens structure to generate tunable PV sequence with controllable topological charges at discrete wavelengths. When compared with conventional spiral-slit structures, the designed metalens has additional structural parameters that bring more degrees of freedom to control the range and interval of the topological charge distribution of the PV sequence. Analytical and simulation methods are used to verify the metalens’ functionality. It is proved that the topological charges of the generated PV sequence are symmetrically distributed about the fundamental mode (l = 0), which cannot be realized by a traditional Archimedean helix. In addition, the normalized powers of the PV sequence are all above 0.8, showing that the designed metalens structure has potential for use as an on-chip optical vortex comb device. This work has potential applications in on-chip optical information processing, integrated optical communications, and optical tweezers.

Plasmonic spin-multiplexing metasurface for controlling the generation and in-plane propagation of surface plasmon polaritons

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are electromagnetic waves that travel along a metal–dielectric interface and are finding an ever-increasing number of applications in newly emerging nano-photonic and optoelectronic technologies. Different from the traditional approach to excite SPPs using prism or grating, metallic metasurfaces incorporating nano-slots with different orientations enable the photonic spin-dependent directional coupling of SPPs, which shows the unique spin tunability. However, the propagations of these generated SPPs are still correlative due to the conjugated phase profiles of metasurfaces for two incident orthogonal spin states. Here, we propose a plasmonic spin-multiplexing metasurface composed of nano-slots with different geometric dimensions and orientations to efficiently control the near-field generation and in-plane propagation of SPPs. By taking into account both the geometric phase and resonant phase of the nano-slots, the metasurface can generate two independent and fully decoupled SPP fields for a pair of orthogonal spin states. As proof-of-concept, we design a series of spin-multiplexing metasurfaces to numerically demonstrate different near-field optical functionalities, including spin-controlled plasmonic bi-focusing, self-accelerating beams, and vortices. We envision this approach may have potential applications in designing polarization-dependent tunable plasmonic nano-devices.

Orbital Angular Momentum in Nanoplasmonic Vortices

In the past decade, optical orbital angular momentum (OAM) has entered the field of plasmonics in the form of surface-confined vortices, generating vast interest. Here we give an overview of the field, starting with the pioneering analytic and experimental investigations of plasmonic OAM. We describe the advances leading to the study of suboptical cycle dynamics in time-resolved experiments and the investigation of angular momentum light–matter interactions through the mixing of circularly polarized light with plasmonic vortices. We describe how additional degrees of freedom can be controlled with metasurfaces and other design techniques leading to the complete spatial and temporal modularization of surface-confined OAM. We review maturing applications of plasmonic vortices, such as plasmonic tweezers for the selective trapping and rotation of microparticles and broadband multiplexing of angular momentum light beams for high-capacity optical communications. The major advances in the field, from the first observation to complete modularization, position the controlled surface-confined OAM at the forefront of light–matter science.

Metastability of photonic spin meron lattices in the presence of perturbed spin-orbit coupling.

Photonic skyrmions and merons are topological quasiparticles characterized by nontrivial electromagnetic textures, which have received increasing research attention recently, providing novel degree of freedom to manipulate light-matter interactions and exhibiting excellent potential in deep-subwavelength imaging and nanometrology. Here, the topological stability of photonic spin meron lattices, which indicates the invariance of skyrmion number and robustness of spin texture under a continuous deformation of the field configuration, is demonstrated by inducing a perturbation to break the C4 symmetry in the presence spin-orbit coupling in an optical field. We revealed that amplitude perturbation would result in an amplitude-dependent shift of spin center, while phase perturbation leads to the deformation of domain walls, manifesting the metastability of photonic meron. Such spin topology is verified through the interference of plasmonic vortices with a broken rotational symmetry. The results provide new insights on optical topological quasiparticles, which may pave the way towards applications in topological photonics, optical information storage and transfer.

The Spin Texture Topology of Polygonal Plasmon Fields

Spin and field textures define the topology of the electric and magnetic fields in vacuum. These textures can be imposed on matter by light–matter interactions on the nanometer spatial and DC to femtosecond time scales to define the spatial and temporal symmetries of quasiparticle interactions. How to define the topology of thermodynamically evolving or dynamically imposed polaritonic textures is still an open question in applying control parameters such as temperature or phase of structured light. In this Perspective, we specifically consider the spin topology of geometrical plasmonic lattices formed by surface plasmon polariton fields spanning the full range of polygonal symmetries, ranging from the triangular to the circular including the intermediate aperiodic quasicrystalline tilings. Our premise is that the distortion of a triangular or a square lattice into a circular one, without introducing discontinuous geometric change, as by cutting, must preserve the polariton topology. From this perspective, we review the recent studies of stable optical field-induced dynamic quasiparticles with topological spin textures on the nanoscale. Specifically, we draw attention to how the topological spin textures evolve through the continuous deformation of the surface plasmon generating polygon geometries from triangular to circular. The goal of this Perspective is to introduce the topological properties of plasmonic vortices and to expand the discussion and understanding of how their topological spin and field textures dress material properties for exploration of fundamental physics and applications in photonics and spintronics.

Plasmonic vortices for tunable manipulation of target particles, using arrays of elliptical holes in a gold layer

Here, we numerically prove that light with linear polarization can be coupled to surface plasmon polaritons at an elliptical hole perforated in a gold layer to generate plasmonic vortex (PV). Benefiting from the smooth variation of the minor to major ellipse axes, a gradual variation in the phase profile of the generated PV is achieved. Regarding this, three types of independent arrays of elliptical holes are presented, which can produce uniform and high quality PVs with different topological charges at the center of the arrays. The first array can produce PV with topological charges of + 1 and − 1, depending on the polarization orientation of the incident light. In the second one, the topological charge of the PV can be switched between 0 and + 2, by switching the polarization direction of the incident light. In the third array, a robust PV with topological charge of + 1 is generated independent of possible tolerances in the polarization orientation. In order to use the generated PVs for plasmonic tweezing application, there are side fringes around the central vortex of the arrays that should be eliminated. To produce a single vortex, we propose metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structures, screening excessive fringes and allowing the central PVs to leak out. It is also demonstrated by simulation that target particles, such as gold and polystyrene spheres of subwavelength dimensions, can be efficiently manipulated by our MIM designs, suitable for different applications including local mixing, and applying switchable torque or force to target particles to explore their complete elastic characteristics.