Light scattering and spin-orbit angular momentum coupling phenomena from subwavelength objects, with electric and magnetic dipolar responses, are receiving an increasing interest. Under illumination by circularly polarized light, spin-orbit coupling effects have been shown to lead to significant shifts between the measured and actual position of particles. Here we show that the remarkable angular dependence of these "optical mirages" and those of the intensity, degree of circular polarization (DoCP), and spin and orbital angular momentum of scattered photons are all linked, and fully determined, by the dimensionless "asymmetry parameter" g, being independent of the specific optical properties of the scatterer. Interestingly, for g≠0, the maxima of the optical mirage and angular momentum exchange take place at different scattering angles. We further show that the g parameter is exactly half of the DoCP at a right-angle scattering, which opens the possibility to infer the whole angular properties of the scattered fields by a single far-field polarization measurement.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OL.44.001762 | DOI Listing |
J Phys Condens Matter
January 2025
School of Materials Science, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Calcutta 700 032, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700032, INDIA.
An exotic quantum mechanical ground state, i.e. the nonmagnetic= 0 state, has been predicted for higher transition metal tsystems, due to the influence of strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) or in other words, due to unquenched orbital moment contribution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Phys Condens Matter
January 2025
Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Sector 81, Knowledge City, Manauli, Mohali, Mohali, Punjab, 140306, INDIA.
Two-dimensional (2D) materials hold great promise for the next-generation optoelectronics applications, many of which, including solar cell, rely on the efficient dissociation of exciton into free charge carriers. However, photoexcitation in atomically thin 2D semiconductors typically produces exciton with a binding energy of ~500 meV, an order of magnitude larger than thermal energy at room temperature. This inefficient exciton dissociation can limit the efficiency of photovoltaics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China.
Recently, vortex beams have been widely studied and applied because they carry orbital angular momentum (OAM). It is widely acknowledged in the scientific community that fractional OAM does not typically exhibit stable propagation; notably, the notion of achieving stable propagation with dual-fractional OAM within a single optical vortex has been deemed impracticable. Here, we address the scientific problem through the combined modulation of phase and polarization, resulting in the generation of a dual-fractional OAM vector vortex beam that can stably exist in free space.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Adv
January 2025
Institute of Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz 55128, Germany.
The observation of spin-dependent transmission of electrons through chiral molecules has led to the discovery of chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS). The remarkably high efficiency of the spin polarizing effect has recently gained substantial interest due to the high potential for future sustainable hybrid chiral molecule magnetic applications. However, the fundamental mechanisms underlying the chiral-induced phenomena remain to be understood fully.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLight Sci Appl
January 2025
School of Physics, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa.
Optical metrology is a well-established subject, dating back to early interferometry techniques utilizing light's linear momentum through fringes. In recent years, significant interest has arisen in using vortex light with orbital angular momentum (OAM), where the phase twists around a singular vortex in space or time. This has expanded metrology's boundaries to encompass highly sensitive chiral interactions between light and matter, three-dimensional motion detection via linear and rotational Doppler effects, and modal approaches surpassing the resolution limit for improved profiling and quantification.
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