Optical Polarization Möbius Strips and Points of Purely Transverse Spin Density

Bauer, Thomas; Neugebauer, Martin; Leuchs, Gerd; Banzer, Peter

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.117.013601

Cited by 132 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Here, we take a closer look at the evolution of the SD of the electric field s E , which describes the local orientation and sense of the spinning axis of the three-dimensional polarization ellipse [1,27,28]. For our paraxial model, we result in:…”

Section: Theoretical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spin-orbit coupling affecting the evolution of transverse spin

Eismann

Banzer

Neugebauer

2019

Phys. Rev. Research

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We investigate the evolution of transverse spin in tightly focused circularly polarized beams of light, where spin-orbit coupling causes a local rotation of the polarization ellipses upon propagation through the focal volume. The effect can be explained as a relative Gouy-phase shift between the circularly polarized transverse field and the longitudinal field carrying orbital angular momentum. The corresponding rotation of the electric transverse spin density is observed experimentally by utilizing a recently developed reconstruction scheme, which relies on transverse-spin-dependent directional scattering of a nano-probe.

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Section: Theoretical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spin-orbit coupling affecting the evolution of transverse spin

Eismann

Banzer

Neugebauer

2019

Phys. Rev. Research

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“…Note that usually, SAM (S) has only longitudinal component (along wave vector k) and is associated with the circular/elliptical polarization of light waves with helicity σ in the range −1 ≤ σ ≤ +1 [24]. In contrary, the transverse SAM has also been observed for structured fields which is independent of helicity [20,21,[25][26][27][28]. These two unusual entities, namely, the polarization-dependent transverse momentum and the polarization-independent transverse SAM observed in evanescent fields (e.g., for surface plasmon-polaritons at dielectric-metal interfaces) have led to several fundamental consequences [26,28,29].…”

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confidence: 99%

Effects of mode mixing and avoided crossings on the transverse spin in a metal-dielectic-metal sphere

Saha

Singh

Ghosh

et al. 2018

J. Opt.

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We study transverse spin in a sub-wavelength metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) sphere when the MDM sphere exhibits avoided crossing due to hybridization of the surface plasmon with the Mie localized plasmon. We show that the change in the absorptive and dipersive character near the crossing can have significant effect on the transverse spin. An enhancement in the transverse spin is shown to be possible associated with the transparency (suppression of extinction) of the MDM sphere. The effect is attributed to the highly structured field emerging as a consequence of competition of the electric and magnetic modes.Keywords: Scattering, Mie theory, Avoided crossing, Surface plasmons, Transverse spin Light-matter interaction in the strong coupling regime resulting in vacuum-field Rabi splittings has been one of the central themes in cavity quantum electrodynamics [1][2][3][4][5]. The coupling occurs when the dispersion branches of the uncoupled systems cross and results in the avoided crossing phenomenon and normal mode splitting. The resulting physics can have interesting implications for various applications ranging from fast and slow light [6,7] and optical sensing [8] to counting and sizing of nanoparticles [9]. The avoided crossing phenomena have been observed in a variety of optical as well as condensed matter systems. These include planar or spherical plasmonic or guided wave structures, metamaterial cavities, in photonic crystal fibers [8,[10][11][12], etc. Contrary to the belief that the split modes can be resolved only with high-finesse optical modes, recent focus on systems with substantial losses (eg. plasmonic nanocavities, and leaky cavities) demonstrated the avoided crossing phenomena [13][14][15] in such systems. Our interest in the strongly coupled systems is motivated by the fact that there is a significant change in the dispersive and absorptive properties near the avoided crossing caused by mode mixing and exchange [16][17][18]. This could result in a highly structured field which is essential for observing yet another important recent discovery, namely, the transverse spin [19] in optical systems [20][21][22].It is well known that the linear momentum (P) carried by light waves can be decomposed into orbital (P o ) and spin (P s ) parts [23,24]. The orbital momentum (P o ) is the so-called canonical momentum of light which is responsible for the energy transport and radiation pressure. The spin momentum, on the other hand, has long been known as a 'virtual' entity which does not transport energy or exerts pressure on the dipolar particle and is only responsible for generating the spin angular momentum (SAM) (P s ≈ ∇ × S) [19]. However, recent studies have shown that

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“…Optical fields can thereby be classified into one-dimensional (1D), two-dimensional (2D), or three-dimensional (3D) light, depending on the minimum number of orthogonal coordinate axes required to represent them. The dimensional nature of light plays an essential role in addressing polarization characteristics of complex-structured light fields, e.g., electromagnetic near and surface fields [3][4][5] as well as tightly focused optical beams [6][7][8][9], which are frequently exploited in near-field probing [10], singlemolecule detection [11], particle trapping [12], among other polarization-sensitive applications. Yet, no systematic theory has so far been developed which provides rigorous means to categorize and to characterize the dimensionality of light.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dimensionality of random light fields

Norrman

Friberg

Gil

et al. 2017

J. Eur. Opt. Soc.-Rapid Publ.

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Background:The spectral polarization state and dimensionality of random light are important concepts in modern optical physics and photonics. Methods: By use of space-frequency domain coherence theory, we establish a rigorous classification for the electricfield vector to oscillate in one, two, or three spatial dimensions. Results: We also introduce a new measure, the polarimetric dimension, to quantify the dimensional character of light. The formalism is utilized to show that polarized three-dimensional light does not exist, while an evanescent wave generated in total internal reflection generally is a genuine three-dimensional light field. Conclusions:The framework we construct advances the polarization theory of random light and it could be beneficial for near-field optics and polarization-sensitive applications involving complex-structured light fields.

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Optical Polarization Möbius Strips and Points of Purely Transverse Spin Density

Cited by 132 publications

References 44 publications

Spin-orbit coupling affecting the evolution of transverse spin

Spin-orbit coupling affecting the evolution of transverse spin

Effects of mode mixing and avoided crossings on the transverse spin in a metal-dielectic-metal sphere

Dimensionality of random light fields

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