Giant photonic spin Hall effect in momentum space in a structured metamaterial with spatially varying birefringence

The photonic spin Hall effect(SHE)in the reflection and refraction at an interface is very weak because of the weak spin-orbit interaction.Here,we report the observation of a giant photonic SHE in a dielectric-based metamaterial.The metamaterial is structured to create a coordinate-dependent,geometric Pancharatnam–Berry phase that results in an SHE with a spin-dependent splitting in momentum space.It is unlike the SHE that occurs in real space in the reflection and refraction at an interface,which results from the momentum-dependent gradient of the geometric Rytov–Vladimirskii–Berry phase.We theorize a unified description of the photonic SHE based on the two types of geometric phase gradient,and we experimentally measure the giant spin-dependent shift of the beam centroid produced by the metamaterial at a visible wavelength.Our results suggest that the structured metamaterial offers a potential method of manipulating spin-polarized photons and the orbital angular momentum of light and thus enables applications in spin-controlled nanophotonics.

Generation of arbitrary vector vortex beams on hybrid-order Poincaré sphere

We propose theoretically and verify experimentally a method of combining a q-plate and a spiral phase plate to generate arbitrary vector vortex beams on a hybrid-order Poincaré sphere. We demonstrate that a vector vortex beam can be decomposed into a vector beam and a vortex, whereby the generation can be realized by sequentially using a q-plate and a spiral phase plate. The generated vector beam, vortex, and vector vortex beam are verified and show good agreement with the prediction. Another advantage that should be pointed out is that the spiral phase plate and q-plate are both fabricated on silica substrates, suggesting the potential possibility to integrate the two structures on a single plate. Based on a compact method of transmissive-type transformation, our scheme may have potential applications in future integrated optical devices.

Polarization evolution of vector beams generated by q-plates

The polarization evolution of vector beams(VBs) generated by q-plates is investigated theoretically and experimentally.An analytical model is developed for the VB created by a general quarter-wave q-plate based on vector diffraction theory.It is found that the polarization distribution of VBs varies with position and the value q.In particular,for the incidence of circular polarization,the exit vector vortex beam has polarization states that cover the whole surface of the Poincarésphere,thereby constituting a full Poincarébeam.For the incidence of linear polarization,the VB is not cylindrical but specularly symmetric,and exhibits an azimuthal spin splitting.These results are in sharp contrast with those derived by the commonly used model,i.e.,regarding the incident light as a plane wave.By implementing q-plates with dielectric metasurfaces,further experiments validate the theoretical results.

Photonic spin Hall effect on the surface of anisotropic two-dimensional atomic crystals

We examine the spin-orbit interaction of light and photonic spin Hall effect on the surface of anisotropic two-dimensional atomic crystals. As an example, the photonic spin Hall effect on the surface of black phosphorus is investigated. The photonic spin Hall effect manifests itself as the spin-dependent beam shifts in both transverse and in-plane directions. We demonstrate that the spin-dependent shifts are sensitive to the orientation of the optical axis, doping concentration, and interband transitions. These results can be extensively extended to other anisotropic two-dimensional atomic crystals. By incorporating the quantum weak measurement techniques, the photonic spin Hall effect holds great promise for detecting the parameters of anisotropic two-dimensional atomic crystals.