Spin-orbit Interaction Of Light Research Articles

High-harmonic spin-orbit angular momentum generation in crystalline solids preserving multiscale dynamical symmetry.

Symmetries essentially provide conservation rules in nonlinear light-matter interactions and facilitate control and understanding of photon conversion processes or electron dynamics. Since anisotropic solids have rich symmetries, they are strong candidates for controlling both optical micro- and macroscale structures, namely, spin angular momentum (circular polarization) and orbital angular momentum (spiral wavefront), respectively. Here, we show structured high-harmonic generation linked to the anisotropic symmetry of a solid. By strategically preserving a dynamical symmetry arising from the spin-orbit interaction of light, we generate multiple orbital angular momentum states in high-order harmonics. The experimental results exhibit the total angular momentum conservation rule of light even in the extreme nonlinear region, which is evidence that the mechanism originates from a dynamical symmetry. Our study provides a deeper understanding of multiscale nonlinear optical phenomena and a general guideline for using electronic structures to control structured light, such as through Floquet engineering.

Polarization-independent edge detection based on the spin–orbit interaction of light

In previous edge detection schemes based on the spin-orbit interaction of light, the direction and intensity of the edge-enhanced images are influenced by the incident polarization state. In this study, we develop an edge detection strategy that is insensitive to changes in both the incident polarization and the incident angle. The output intensity and transfer function remain entirely impervious to changes in incident polarization, being explicitly formulated as functions of the incident angle, specifically in terms of cot2⁡θ i and cot⁡θ i , respectively. This behavior is attributed to the opposing nature of the polarization components E~ r H−H and E~ r V−V in the x-direction after undergoing mapping through the Glan polarizer, while the sum of polarization components E~ r H−V and E~ r V−H in the y-direction can be simplified to terms independent of incident polarization. Furthermore, we propose a metasurface design to achieve the required optical properties in order to realize the derived edge detection scheme.

Role of beam parameters in the spin-orbit interactions of light.

We employ a full-wave theory to systematically investigate two types of spin-orbit interactions and their topological phase transitions for various light beams (e.g., Laguerre-Gaussian, Bessel, and Bessel-Gaussian beams) at optical interfaces, and explore the influence of beam parameters on the spin-Hall shift. It is demonstrated that at small-angle incidence, the beam profile and spin-Hall shift are significantly affected by the beam parameters (e.g., waist radius, radial index, azimuthal index, and cone angle), whereas at large-angle incidence, only the azimuthal index has a salient influence on them. We further find that the Bessel beam and the Gaussian-modulated ones (i.e., Laguerre-Gaussian and Bessel-Gaussian beams) have similar topological phase transition phenomena but different shifts. Quantitative dependences of beam parameters, such as waist radius, radial index, azimuthal index, and cone angle, on the shift are also presented. Our findings offer alternative degrees of freedom in controlling the topological phase transitions of light, and suggest a valuable insight for exploring the applications of SOIs of diverse light fields.

Optical chirality induced by spin-orbit interaction of light in a tightly focused Laguerre-Gaussian beam

Optical chirality is one of the important and fundamental dynamic properties of light besides energy, momentum, and angular momentum. The quantification of electromagnetic chirality has been conceptualized only recently. Now, it is well known that for paraxial plane waves of light, the optical chirality is proportional to the ellipticity of the polarization ellipse, i.e., completely independent of the phase distribution. Here it is shown that optical vortex and state of polarization of the source paraxial field both have contributions to the optical chirality of the nonparaxial field generated by tightly focused Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) beam, which is in Stark contrast to the paraxial plane wave of light known from classical optics. The physical reason is the redistribution of local electromagnetic polarization in three dimensions associated with spin–orbit interaction.

Optical spin–orbit interaction in spontaneous parametric downconversion

Optical spin–orbit interaction (SOI), which can be used to simultaneously control the spin and orbital angular momentum of light, is important for both classical and quantum information applications. In linear and nonlinear optics, the SOI of light has been extensively explored in both artificial structures and conventional optical crystals. However, optical SOI in quantum nonlinear optical processes, such as spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC), has not been studied before. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that optical SOI in the SPDC process can be realized through a nonlinear crystal with threefold rotational symmetry. Two-photon quantum states with controlled angular momentum can be generated through the symmetry selection rules in nonlinear optics and the SOI of the pump wave. The proposed methodology may facilitate the generation and control of spin and orbital angular momentum of entangled photons.

Interaction of spin-orbit angular momentum in the tight focusing of structured light

As an intrinsic property of light, angular momentum has always been an important research object of light field. In the past few years, the interactions between spin angular momentum and orbital angular momentum in tightly focused structured light have attracted much attention. Different from the independent conservation in the paraxial condition, the polarization-dependent spin angular momentum and the phase-dependent orbital angular momentum are coupled under tight focusing condition based on different physical mechanisms. The research on spin-orbit interaction will be helpful to deeply understand the nature of photon as well as extend the applications of light. Here, different forms of spin-orbit interaction during the tight focusing of structured light have been briefly introduced and classified. Besides, the existing problems and development prospects in the research about spin-orbit interaction of light are discussed, including the quantitative detection of the local distribution of optical spin and orbital angular momentum in experiments and the further applications of spin-orbit interaction.

Four-vector optical Dirac equation and spin-orbit interaction of structured light

The spin-orbit interaction of light is a crucial concept for understanding the electromagnetic properties of a material and realizing the spin-controlled manipulation of optical fields. Achieving these goals requires a complete description of spin-dependent optical phenomena in the context of vector-wave mechanics. We develop an extended Dirac theory for optical fields in generic media, which was found to be akin to a non-Hermitian chiral extension of massive fermions with anomalous magnetic momenta moving in an external pseudomagnetic field. This similarity allows us to investigate the optical behaviors of a material by effective field-theory methods and can find wide applications in metamaterials, photonic topological insulators, etc. We demonstrate this method by studying the spin-orbit interaction of structured light in a spin-degenerate medium and inhomogeneous isotropic medium, which leads to both spin-orbital Hall effects and spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion. Of importance, our approach provides simple and clear physical insight into the spin-orbit interaction of light in generic media, and could potentially bridge our understanding of topological insulators between electronic and photonic systems.

Role of in-plane shift in reconstructing the photonic spin Hall effect

The photonic spin Hall effect (SHE) manifests itself as in-plane and transverse spin-dependent shifts of left- and right-handed circularly polarized (LCP, RCP) components and originates from the spin-orbit interaction (SOI) of light, where extrinsic orbital angular momentum (EOAM) can induce these shifts. However, previous studies mainly focus on the SOI corresponding to transverse shifts and generally consider the paraxial approximation case. In this Letter, we reconstruct a more general theory of the photonic SHE in the non-paraxial case and reveal that the induction of an in-plane shift mainly relies on the EOAM of the y direction, supplemented by the EOAM of the x and z directions under the laboratory coordinate system. In addition, the EOAM in the x and z directions completely determine the transverse shift. Moreover, the angular momentum conversion between the LCP and RCP components results in the angular momentum of the LCP (RCP) component of the incident Gaussian beam not being equal to the sum of the angular momentum of the LCP (RCP) component of the reflected and transmitted light. These findings explore the influence of in-plane shifts on the SOI of light and provide an in-depth understanding of the photonic SHE.

Intense high-harmonic optical vortices generated from a microplasma waveguide irradiated by a circularly polarized laser pulse

A scheme for generating intense high-harmonic optical vortices is proposed. It relies on spin-orbit interaction of light when a relativistically strong circularly polarized laser pulse irradiates a microplasma waveguide. The intense laser field drives a strong surface wave at the inner boundary of the waveguide, which leads to high-order-harmonic generation as the laser is traveling inside. For a circularly polarized drive laser, the optical chirality is imprinted to the surface wave, which facilitates conversion of the spin angular momentum of the fundamental light into orbital angular momenta of the harmonics. A ``shaken waveguide'' model is developed showing that the aforementioned phenomenon arises due to a nonlinear plasma response that modifies the electromagnetic mode at high intensities. We further show that the phase velocities of all the harmonic beams are automatically matched to the driving laser, so that the harmonic intensities increase with propagation distance. The efficiency of harmonic production is related to the surface wave breaking effect, which can be significantly enhanced using a tightly focused laser. Our simulation suggests that an overall conversion efficiency of $\ensuremath{\sim}5%$ can be achieved.

Perfect transverse spin splitting by a single particle with bianisotropy

Transverse spin splitting is a novel optical phenomenon which stems from the spin-orbit interaction of light. In this paper, we reveal the perfect transverse spin splitting in the scattered far-field of a single particle with bianisotropy. It is the result of the polarization twist effect caused by the omega-type bianisotropy of the structure in which the magnetic and electric fields interact in an unusual way and form a transverse spin dipole moment. Based on the dipole model, we conducted a detailed theoretical analysis of the relationship between the magnetoelectric coupling and the polarization state of the scattered far field. Our method reveals a physical mechanism of splitting the spin state of incident light which is regarded as a kind of giant spin Hall effect. Moreover, this perfect transverse spin splitting can also be understood by the separation of far-field polarization singularities. Our results provide a new platform for manipulating the spin state in the scattered far field and open an avenue for designing the spin structure.

Winding Poynting vector of light around plasmonic nanostructure

A set of surface integral equations (SIEs) of Fredholm equations of the second kinds is used to study 3D light-matter interaction at the nanoscale, particularly for the plasmonic effect. Based on this method, we find that the streamline of Poynting vector (energy flux) winds along the long axis of a gold nanocuboid as irradiated by a circularly polarized light propagating in the short-axis direction; the transverse angular momentum is caused by the spin-orbit interaction of light via a plasmonic nanostructure. The spiral winding behavior of Poynting vector could be related to the helical surface currents. Moreover, we find that at an off-resonance frequency two vortexes of energy flux winding around specific corners of a gold nanocuboid are generated in the presence of a TiO2 substrate. This phenomenon may explain the cause of the selectivity of active sites for plasmon-enhanced chemical reaction. Our simulation method provides a deeper insight into the nanoscale light-matter interaction.

Photon–phonon spin–orbit interaction in optical fibers

Spin–orbit interaction (SOI) is a striking physical phenomenon in which spin and orbital features of a particle or a wave field affect each other. Recently, there has been significant interest in the SOI of light as it accompanies a number of fundamental light–matter interaction processes, enabling intriguing applications. We demonstrate the spin-orbit coupling between photons and phonons, in contrast to recently reported studies dealing with a “single-field” SOI. We show that the spin angular momentum of phonons can be transformed into the orbital angular momentum of photons, and vice versa, during the fiber acousto-optic interaction. This results in the acoustic-spin-dependent, dynamically tunable generation of topologically charged optical vortex beams directly from a Gauss-like mode. This type of optical mode conversion can be useful in such vortex-based photonics applications as micromechanics, classical and quantum information technologies, and simulation of quantum computing. This particular example of a “two-field SOI” shows that the concept of spin-orbit coupling can be generalized to describe the interaction between elementary excitations of different physical nature. Our findings indicate that SOI-assisted effects might be found in physical systems with photon–phonon, magnon–phonon, electron–phonon, and other interactions, enabling tailored topologically charged multiparticle states in photonics, spintronics, plasmonics, etc.

High-Harmonic Generation and Spin-Orbit Interaction of Light in a Relativistic Oscillating Window.

When a high power laser beam irradiates a small aperture on a solid foil target, the strong laser field drives surface plasma oscillation at the periphery of this aperture, which acts as a "relativistic oscillating window." The diffracted light that travels though such an aperture contains high-harmonics of the fundamental laser frequency. When the driving laser beam is circularly polarized, the high-harmonic generation (HHG) process facilitates a conversion of the spin angular momentum of the fundamental light into the intrinsic orbital angular momentum of the harmonics. By means of theoretical modeling and fully 3D particle-in-cell simulations, it is shown the harmonic beams of order n are optical vortices with topological charge |l|=n-1, and a power-law spectrum I_{n}∝n^{-3.5} is produced for sufficiently intense laser beams, where I_{n} is the intensity of the nth harmonic. This work opens up a new realm of possibilities for producing intense extreme ultraviolet vortices, and diffraction-based HHG studies at relativistic intensities.

Spin-orbit interaction of light in three-dimensional microcavities

We investigate the spin-orbit coupling of light in three-dimensional cylindrical and tube-like whispering gallery mode resonators. We show that its origin is the transverse confinement of light in the resonator walls, even in the absence of inhomogeneities or anisotropies. The spin-orbit interaction results in elliptical far-field polarization (spin) states and causes spatial separation of polarization handedness in the far field. The ellipticity and spatial separation are enhanced for whispering gallery modes with higher excitation numbers along the resonator height. We analyze the asymmetry of the ellipticity and the tilt of the polarization orientation in the far field of cone-like microcavities. Furthermore, we find a direct relationship between the tilt of the polarization orientation in the far field and the local inclination of the resonator wall. Our findings are based on FDTD-simulations and are supported by three-dimensional diffraction theory.

Enhanced Directional Coupling of Light with a Whispering Gallery Microcavity

Directional coupling of light in nanophotonic circuits has recently attracted increasing interest, with numerous experimental realizations based on broken rotational or mirror symmetries of the light-matter system. The most prominent underlying effect is the spin-orbit interaction of light in subwavelength structures. Unfortunately, coupling of light to such structures is, in general, very inefficient. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate an order of magnitude enhancement of the directional coupling between two nanowaveguides by means of a whispering gallery microcavity. We also show that both transversmagnetic and transverse electric modes can be used for the enhancement.

Routing a Chiral Raman Signal Based on Spin-Orbit Interaction of Light.

Spontaneous Raman scattering is a second-order perturbation process with two photons linking the internal structures of the matter. The frequency-shifted Raman peaks are sharp and carry rich information about the internal structures. However, encoding and manipulating this information have been barely explored up to now. Here, we report the high-fidelity routing of a chiral Raman signal into propagating surface plasmon polaritons along a silver nanowire based on spin-orbit interaction of light. A directionality up to 91.5±0.5% is achieved and can be quantitatively controlled by tuning the polarization of the incident laser and the position of excitation. The deterministic routing of the Raman signal is sensitively dependent on the local spin density of the plasmon field and the polarization of the Raman modes. This study extends the spin-orbit interaction of light to the Raman scattering regime and proposes a new perspective for the remote readout of local optical chirality, helicity-related directional sorting, and quantum information processing.

Enhanced spin orbit interaction of light in highly confining optical fibers for mode division multiplexing

Light carries both orbital angular momentum (OAM) and spin angular momentum (SAM), related to wavefront rotation and polarization, respectively. These are usually approximately independent quantities, but they become coupled by light’s spin-orbit interaction (SOI) in certain exotic geometries and at the nanoscale. Here we reveal a manifestation of strong SOI in fibers engineered at the micro-scale and supporting the only known example of propagating light modes with non-integer mean OAM. This enables propagation of a record number (24) of states in a single optical fiber with low cross-talk (purity > 93%), even as tens-of-meters long fibers are bent, twisted or otherwise handled, as fibers are practically deployed. In addition to enabling the investigation of novel SOI effects, these light states represent the first ensemble with which mode count can be potentially arbitrarily scaled to satisfy the exponentially growing demands of high-performance data centers and supercomputers, or telecommunications network nodes.

Spin-dependent directional emission from a quantum dot ensemble embedded in an asymmetric waveguide.

In this study, we examine a photonic wire waveguide embedded with an ensemble of quantum dots (QDs) that directionally emits into the waveguide depending on the spin state of the ensemble. The directional emission is facilitated by the spin-orbit interaction of light. The waveguide has a two-step stair-like cross section and QDs are embedded only in the upper step, such that the circular polarization of emission from the spin-polarized QDs controls the direction of the radiation. We numerically verify that more than 70% of the radiation from the ensemble emitter is toward a specific direction in the waveguide. We also examine a microdisk resonator with a stair-like edge, which supports selective coupling of the QD ensemble radiation into a whispering gallery mode that rotates unidirectionally. Our study provides a foundation for spin-dependent optoelectronic devices.

Role of the absorption on the spin-orbit interactions of light with Si nano-particles

The conservation of the photon total angular momentum in the incident direction in an axially symmetric scattering process is a very well known fact. Nonetheless, the redistribution of this conserved magnitude into its spin and orbital components, an effect known as the spin-orbit interaction (SOI) of light, is still a matter of active research. Here, we discuss the effect of the absorption on the SOI in the scattering of a subwavelength silicon particle. Describing the scattering process of an electric and a magnetic dipole, we show via the asymmetry parameter that the SOI of light in the scattering of high refractive index nanoparticles endures in the presence of optical losses. This effect results in optical mirages whose maximum values surpass those of an electric dipolar scatterer.

Raman Optical Activity Using Twisted Photons.

Raman optical activity underpins a powerful vibrational spectroscopic technique for obtaining detailed structural information about chiral molecular species. The effect centers on the discriminatory interplay between the handedness of material chirality with that of circularly polarized light. Twisted light possessing an optical orbital angular momentum carries helical phase fronts that screw either clockwise or anticlockwise and, thus, possess a handedness that is completely distinct from the polarization. Here a novel form of Raman optical activity that is sensitive to the handedness of the incident twisted photons through a spin-orbit interaction of light is identified, representing a new chiroptical spectroscopic technique.