• Chiral discrimination by polarization singularities of a metal sphere

    分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: The practical applications of chiral discrimination are usually limited by the weak chiral response of enantiomers and the high complexity of detection methods. Here, we propose to use the C lines (i.e., lines of polarization singularities) emerged in light scattering by a metal sphere to detect small chiral particles. Using full-wave numerical simulations and analytical multipole expansions, we determined the absorption dissymmetry of deep-subwavelength helices (i.e., chiral particles) at different positions on the C lines. We find that the absorption dissymmetry can be much larger than that induced by circularly polarized plane wave excitation, and it can be attributed to the asymmetric absorption of the induced electric and magnetic dipoles. We also show that the absorption dissymmetry strongly depends on the anisotropy of the helices. The results may find applications in optical manipulations, optical sensing, and chiral quantum optics.

  • Optical force and torque on small particles induced by polarization singularities

    分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Optical forces in the near fields have important applications in on-chip optical manipulations of small particles and molecules. Here, we report a study of optical force and torque on small particles induced by the optical polarization singularities of a gold cylinder. We show that the scattering of the cylinder generates both electric and magnetic C lines (i.e., lines of polarization singularities) in the near fields, and the C lines can induce complex force and torque on a dielectric/magnetic particle. The force and torque manifest dramatic spatial variations with interesting symmetry properties, providing rich degrees of freedom for near-field optical manipulations. The study, for the first time to our knowledge, uncovers the effect of optical polarization singularities on light-induced force and torque on small particles. The results contribute to the understanding of chiral light-matter interactions and can find applications in on-chip optical manipulations and optical sensing.

  • Topological near fields generated by topological structures

    分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: The central idea of metamaterials and metaoptics is that, besides their base materials, the geometry of structures offers a broad extra dimension to explore for exotic functionalities. Here, we discover that the topology of structures fundamentally dictates the topological properties of optical near fields and offers a new dimension to exploit for optical functionalities that are irrelevant to specific material constituents or structural geometries. We find that the nontrivial topology of metal structures ensures the birth of polarization singularities (PSs) in the near field with rich morphologies and intriguing spatial evolutions including merging, bifurcation, and topological transition. By mapping the PSs to non-Hermitian exceptional points and employing homotopy theory, we extract the core invariant that governs the topological classification of the PSs and the conservation law that regulates their spatial evolutions. The results have effectively bridged three vibrant fields of singular optics, topological photonics, and non-Hermitian physics, with potential applications in chiral sensing, chiral quantum optics, and beyond photonics in other wave systems.