Manipulating Spin-Dependent Wavefronts of Vortex Beams via Plasmonic Metasurfaces

Conventional metasurfaces based on geometric phase are constrained to spin-locked phase profile, resulting in mirrored functionalities for different spins. A single flat device that enables independent manipulation of wavefronts in two orthogonal circularly polarized channels is of paramount importance in wireless and optical communications. In this work, by tuning the dimension and rotation angle of H-shaped meta-atoms to synthesize propagating phase and geometric phase, spin-dependent plasmonic metasurfaces are presented to manipulate circularly polarized waves in the visible band. To verify the capability of spin-dependent wavefront manipulation, three metasurfaces are implemented. The first metasurface generates vortex beams with orbital angular momentum (OAM) l = 1 under left-handed circularly polarized (LCP) incidence and l = 2 under right-handed circularly polarized (RCP) incidence. By introducing convolution operation, the second metasurface is capable of producing vortex beams with different OAMs and different directions for two spins. The third metasurface produces dual-beam and quad-beam with different OAMs for different circular polarizations. This scheme can provide a new pathway in ultracompact nanophotonic devices and systems.     

The Effect of the Spin Angular Momentum on the Tight-Focusing Vortex Hollow Gaussian Beams

The propagation properties of a hollow Gaussian beam (HGB) carrying on-axis and off-axis vortices through a high numerical aperture lens are investigated. The intensity of the focused beam in the focal plane can be controlled by choosing the different topological charges, the beam order, and the semi-aperture angle. As intrinsic properties, vortex beams possess both spin and orbital angular momenta. The spin angular momenta (SAM) density can be treated as a vector in 3D since it exists in arbitrary orientation during the beam propagation. The vectors of SAM density orientation of the focused beam in 3D rotate around the central axis whose locations mainly rely on the vortices. The magnitude of the SAM density near the focus plane abruptly varies by altering the focal length of the lens. Under tightly focusing condition, two new pairs of vortices generate alternately on x and y axes in the vectorial electric fields, while the topological charges increase by one.     

Compound plasmonic vortex generation based on spiral nanoslits

In view of wide applications of structured light fields and plasmonic vortices, we propose the concept of compound plasmonic vortex and design several structured plasmonic vortex generators. This kind of structured plasmonic vortex generators consists of multiple spiral nanoslits and they can generate two or more concentric plasmonic vortices. Different from Laguerre–Gaussian beam, the topological charge of the plasmonic vortex in different region is different. Theoretical analysis lays the basis for the design of radially structured plasmonic vortex generators and numerical simulations for several examples confirm the effectiveness of the design principle. The discussions about the interference of vortex fields definite the generation condition for the structured vortex. This work provides a design methodology for generating new vortices using spiral nanoslits and the advanced radially structured plasmonic vortices is helpful for broadening the applications of vortex fields.     

Transmissive 2-bit anisotropic coding metasurface

Coding metasurfaces have attracted tremendous interests due to unique capabilities of manipulating electromagnetic wave. However, archiving transmissive coding metasurface is still challenging. Here we propose a transmissive anisotropic coding metasurface that enables the independent control of two orthogonal polarizations. The polarization beam splitter and the orbital angular momentum (OAM) generator have been studied as typical applications of the anisotropic 2-bit coding metasurface. The simulated far field patterns illustrate that the x and y polarized electromagnetic waves are deflected into two different directions, respectively. The anisotropic coding metasurface has been experimentally verified to realize an OAM beam with l = 2 of right-handed polarized wave, resulting from both contributions from linear-to-circular polarization conversion and the phase profile modulation. This work is beneficial to enrich the polarization manipulation field and develop transmissive coding metasurfaces.     

Chiral Lithography with Vortex Non-diffracted Laser for Orbital Angular Momentum Detection

Chiroptical response, demonstrating chiral interaction between optical vortex and chiral structure, plays an important role in variety of fields like optics and material science. However, the flexibility and efficiency of chiral structure fabrication are limited due to mask requirement and a point-by-point constructing strategy. In this paper, a novel chiral lithography method is proposed that utilizes optical vortex phase beam shaping to achieve chiral structure processing with high efficiency and flexibility. By programming topological charges of the vortex phase, chiral structures with adjustable appearance, rotation, and chirality can be produced using femtosecond laser single pulse exposure. Transmittance measurements of fabricated chiral structures array confirm a 66% helical dichroism that is predicted by simulation. Moreover, with the aid of convolutional neural networks (CNN), an accuracy of 98% in Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) recognition can be achieved. This chiral lithography method provides an alternative for chiral structure fabrication and holds promise in the development of chiral optics, optical communications, and next-generation optical devices.     

Controlling acoustic orbital angular momentum with artificial structures: From physics to application

Acoustic orbital angular momentum (OAM) associated with helicoidal wavefront recently attracts rapidly-growing attentions, offering a new degree of freedom for acoustic manipulation. Due to the unique dynamical behavior and inherent mode orthogonality of acoustic OAM, its harnessing is of fundamental interests for wave physics, with great potential in a plethora of applications. The recent advance in materials physics further boosts efforts into controlling OAM-carrying acoustic vortices, especially acoustic metasurfaces with planar profile and subwavelength thickness. Thanks to their unconventional acoustic properties beyond attainable in the nature, acoustic artificial structures provide a powerful platform for new research paradigm for efficient generation and diverse manipulation of OAM in ways not possible before, enabling novel applications in diverse scenarios ranging from underwater communication to object manipulation. In this article, we present a comprehensive view of this emerging field by delineating the fundamental physics of OAM-metasurface interaction and recent advances in the generation, manipulation, and application of acoustic OAM based on artificial structures, followed by an outlook for promising future directions and potential practical applications.     

汉克-贝塞尔光束在海洋湍流信道中的螺旋相位谱分析

携带轨道角动量的汉克-贝塞尔(Hankel-Bessel,HB)光束具有无衍射和自聚焦特性,用来作为信息传输的载体有望增大信息传输容量.基于Rytov近似理论,推导得到了HB涡旋光束经过海洋水平弱湍流信道后的螺旋相位谱的解析表达式,并利用数值仿真方法研究了海洋湍流参数对轨道角动量模式探测概率的影响.结果表明,海洋湍流导致发射轨道角动量模式的探测概率下降,出现模式串扰和螺旋相位谱扩展.海洋湍流对HB涡旋光束的负面影响随着轨道角动量模式数、传输距离、温度方差耗散率的增加而增强,随湍流动能耗散率的增加而减弱.HB涡旋光束受以盐度波动驱动的海洋湍流的负面影响更大.另外,在弱湍流及几十米传输距离条件下,HB涡旋光束的传输性能要差于最佳束腰大小设置的拉盖尔-高斯涡旋光束.这些结果有望为海洋环境水下光通信链路的实现提供一定的参考价值.     

Universality Principle for Orbital Angular Momentum and Spin in Gravity with Torsion

We argue that compatibility with elementary particle physics requires gravitational theories with torsion to be unable to distinguish between orbital angular momentum and spin. An important consequence of this principle is that spinless particles must move along autoparallel trajectories, not along geodesics.     

Generalized high-order twisted partially coherent beams and their propagation characteristics

Twist phase is a nontrivial statistical phase that only exists in partially coherent fields, which makes the beam carry orbital angular momentum (OAM). In this paper, we introduce a new kind of partially coherent beams carrying high-order twist phase, named generalized high-order twisted partially coherent beams (GHTPCBs). The propagation dynamics such as the spectral density and OAM flux density propagating in free space are investigated numerically with the help of mode superposition and fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm. Our results show that the GHTPCBs are capable of self-focusing, and the beam spot during propagation exhibits teardrop-like or the diamond-like shape in some certain cases. Moreover, the influences of the twist order and the twist factor on the OAM flux density during propagation are also illustrated in detail. Finally, we experimentally synthesize the GHTPCBs with controllable twist phase by means of pseudo-mode superposition and measure their spectral density during propagation. The experimental results agree well with the theoretical predictions. Our studies may find applications in nonlinear optics and particle trapping.     

Rotational Doppler Effect: A Review

Generally, the linear motion between the source of a wave and an observer leads to a linear Doppler effect. It is associated with the linear momentum of the wave. For electromagnetic beams having a circular polarization or an azimuthal phase distribution, the rotation between the source and the observer results in a less well-known rotational Doppler effect. It is associated with the angular momentum of the wave. This is particularly the case for vortex beams. Here, the various physical insights that are given to explain the origin of the rotational Doppler effect is reviewed. The focus is on different cases where such an effect gives information on the rotational nature of the probed systems, and also on cases where the rotational Doppler effect is useless. Still debated issues and possible applications are then presented.     

利用振幅光栅生成拉盖尔-高斯光束的实验研究

拉盖尔高斯(Laguerre-Gaussian,LG)光束由于其独特的相位结构和轨道角动量特性在微粒旋转操纵和信息处理等方面得到了越来越多的重视.对利用振幅型叉状衍射光栅产生LG光束进行了理论分析,采用计算全息图的方法制作了振幅型叉状衍射光栅,实验上获得了角量子数为±1的LG光束,并对光束变换过程中影响光束特性的主要因素进行了讨论. 关键词： 信息光学 拉盖尔高斯光束 计算全息光栅 光束轨道角动量     

基于环形芯光纤的超低差分模式增益涡旋光纤放大器

提出了一种基于环形芯铒离子部分掺杂光纤的涡旋光纤放大器。针对该掺铒光纤的放大特性,研究了光纤长度、掺铒浓度与抽运功率对信号模式增益特性的影响。研究结果表明,该光纤放大器能够支持22个轨道角动量模式稳定传输,且C波段(1 530～1 565 nm)所有信号模式增益大于23 dB,信噪比高于27 dB,差分模式增益小于0.015 dB。所提出的基于环形芯光纤的涡旋光纤放大器具有支持轨道角动量模式数量多、差分模式增益低、信噪比高的优势,对于OAM复用长距离传输系统中的在线放大具有重要参考价值。     

扭转对称光束的产生及其变换过程中的轨道角动量传递

研究了采用扭转柱面镜光学系统将厄米-高斯光束变换成为具有轨道角动量的拉盖尔-高斯扭转对称光束. 采用本征模式分解的方法分析了扭转柱面镜光学变换系统实现光束变换的原理.利用光束传输矩阵和二阶矩理论分析计算了光束经过扭转柱面透镜变换过程中的轨道角动量传递过程，证明光束与透镜系统的轨道角动量交换发生在第一个柱面透镜处，光束经过第一个柱面透镜后，具有的轨道角动量保持不变. 关键词： 轨道角动量 光束变换 扭转对称光束 轨道角动量传递     

Chiral nanoemitter array: A launchpad for optical vortices

A chiral arrangement of molecular nanoemitters is shown to support delocalised exciton states whose spontaneous decay can generate optical vortex radiation. In contrast to techniques in which phase modification is imposed upon conventional optical beams, this exciton method enables radiation with a helical wave‐front to be produced directly. To achieve this end, a number of important polarisation and symmetry‐based criteria need to be satisfied. It emerges that the phase structure of the optical field produced by degenerate excitons in a propeller‐shaped array can exhibit precisely the sought character of an optical vortex – one with unit topological charge. Practical considerations for the further development of this technique are discussed, and potential new applications are identified.     

基于光子轨道角动量的密码通信方案研究

设计了一个基于两个正交的光子轨道角动量态的量子密码通信方案.在该方案中,Alice使用具有独特设计的激光器,随机发送有确定轨道角动量的光子;Bob采用由两个达夫棱镜组成的光束旋转器,对光子的轨道角动量态进行测量.对系统安全性的讨论表明,Eve采用截获重发、攻击单臂等攻击手段,其窃听行为都会被发现.理论证明,该方案不需要通信双方实时监测和调整参考系,同时避免了BB84,B92协议因发送基和测量基不一致而丢弃一半信息的问题,从而提高了密钥生成效率. 关键词： 量子保密通信 轨道角动量     

自旋不是轨道角动量的相对论效应——与许方官和高春媛商榷

对《大学物理》2000年第11期上发表的《氢原子的磁矩－对自旋的讨论之一》一提出了不同的看法，认为该错把相对论的流密度当成了非相对论的流密度，前不能在非相对论近似下过滤到后，在相对论情况下，自旋和轨道耦合在一起，不能互相独立，在非相对论情况下自旋独立于轨道运动而存在；因而，自旋不是轨道角动量的相对论效应。     

利用光学腔产生单环状拉盖尔-高斯模

提出并从实验上实现了利用光学腔产生单环状拉盖尔-高斯模的方法。给出了方案的理论描述及实验操作技巧。通过与平面波的干涉条纹验证了螺旋状的波前相位分布。     

Multipole Excitation of Localized Plasmon Resonance in Asymmetrically Coated Core–Shell Nanoparticles Using Optical Vortices

Plasmonic interactions between an asymmetrically coated core–shell (ACCS) nanoparticle and an optical vortex produce a novel engagement of the spin angular momentum (SAM) and the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of the input. Simulations based on a discrete dipole approximation (DDA) indicate that the SAM and the OAM of the incident beam determine the modal order of resonance, correctly identifying the peak wavelength, and both the direction and magnitude of optical torque exerted upon the excited, localized plasmon resonance in the ACCS particle. These simulations also indicate higher-order resonances, including hexapole and octupole modes, and a zero-order resonance (expressible as a monopole mode), can be excited by judicious selection of the SAM and OAM. A detailed symmetry analysis shows how the multipoles associated with eigenmode excitations connect to the radiation multipoles at the heart of the multipole expansion. It is also shown how additional, distorted resonance modes due to the asymmetricity of the structure are also exhibited. These specific plasmonic characteristics, which cannot be realized by plane wave excitation, become possible through the ACCS asymmetry engaging with the distinct optical vortex nature of the excitation.