Quantum spin Hall effect of light

DOI10.1126/SCIENCE.AAA9519MaRDI QIDQ2961895zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Konstantin Y. Bliokh, Daria Smirnova, Franco Nori

Publication date 15 February 2017

Published in Science (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1502.03319

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Signal theory (characterization, reconstruction, filtering, etc.) (94A12) Motion of charged particles (78A35)

Abstract: Maxwell's equations, formulated 150 years ago, ultimately describe properties of light, from classical electromagnetism to quantum and relativistic aspects. The latter ones result in remarkable geometric and topological phenomena related to the spin-1 massless nature of photons. By analyzing fundamental spin properties of Maxwell waves, we show that free-space light exhibits an intrinsic quantum spin Hall effect, i.e., surface modes with strong spin-momentum locking. These modes are evanescent waves that form, e.g., surface plasmon-polaritons at vacuum-metal interfaces. Our findings illuminate the unusual transverse spin in evanescent waves and explain recent experiments demonstrating the transverse spin-direction locking in the excitation of surface optical modes. This deepens our understanding of Maxwell's theory, reveals analogies with topological insulators for electrons, and offers applications for robust spin-directional optical interfaces.

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Cited in

(19)

• Spin Hall effect of light in inhomogeneous axion field
• Emergent macroscopic electromagnetism in the 3-dimensional non-Hermitian double-cover Lieb model
• Flexibly Enhanced Photonic Spin Hall Effect via Selective Brewster Angle
• On the Majorana representation of the optical Dirac equation
• Chirality notions and electromagnetic scattering: a mini review
• Optical momentum and angular momentum in complex media: from the Abraham–Minkowski debate to unusual properties of surface plasmon-polaritons
• Transverse spin dynamics in structured electromagnetic guided waves
• Microwave photonics with superconducting quantum circuits
• Resonant spin Hall effect of light in random photonic arrays
• Chirality as generalized spin-orbit interaction in spintronics
• Spin moments of particles detected using the spin Hall effect of light through weak quantum measurements
• Propagation Characteristics of Surface Plasmon Polaritons Near Anisotropic 2D Materials Sandwiched by Chiral Media
• Photonic spin Hall effect on the surface of two-dimensional black arsenic
• Geometric spinoptics and the optical Hall effect
• Lorentz-boosted evanescent waves
• Effective spin physics in two-dimensional cavity QED arrays
• Graviton topology
• Continuous topological transition from metal to dielectric
• Transverse and longitudinal angular momenta of light

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