Photonic Spin Hall Effect: Contribution of Polarization Mixing Caused by Anisotropy

Abstract

Spin-orbital interaction of light attracts much attention in nanophotonics opening new horizons for modern optical systems and devices. The photonic spin Hall effect or Imbert-Fedorov shift takes a special place among the variety of spin-orbital interaction phenomena. It exhibits as a polarization-dependent transverse light shift usually observed in specular scattering of light at interfaces with anisotropic materials. Nevertheless, the effect of the polarization mixing caused by anisotropy on the Imbert-Fedorov shift is commonly underestimated. In this work, we demonstrate that polarization mixing contribution cannot be ignored for a broad range of optical systems. In particular, we show the dominant influence of the mixing term over the standard one for the polarized optical beam incident at a quarter-wave plate within the paraxial approximation. Moreover, our study reveals a novel contribution with extraordinary polarization dependence not observable within the simplified approach. We believe that these results advance the understanding of photonic spin Hall effect and open new opportunities for spin-dependent optical phenomena.

Terahertz Polarization-Resolved Spectra of the Metamaterial Formed by Optimally Shaped Omega Elements on a Silicon Substrate at Oblique Incidence of Waves

“…An in-depth analysis of our findings in relation to the results of previous studies [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] will be conducted separately in the near future. The advantages of the optical scheme we have proposed include the use of a metamaterial with only one layer of omega elements, which simplifies the fabrication process and decreases costs while also diminishing the wave absorption losses.…”

“…One potential application, among others, for metamaterials is their utilization as polarization converters for electromagnetic waves across various spectral ranges. These polarizers may consist of variously shaped elements, such as helices with different numbers of turns, split rings oriented in different ways, and classical or rectangular omega-shaped elements [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The polarizers function predominantly within the microwave and, to a lesser degree, THz frequency ranges.…”

Spin Hall Effect of Light: From Fundamentals To Recent Advancements

“…The SHEL is often referred to by other terminologies, including "optical spin Hall effect" [14][15][16][17] or "photonic spin Hall effect." [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] Additionally, many other spin-orbit-coupled phenomena in optics share the same name. [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] The terminology "SHEL" implies that it can include any spin-orbit coupling effects in optics.…”

Beam shifts in two-dimensional atomic crystals

“…In fact, the GH and IF shifts can be described by a wave theory in a unified framework [18,[46][47][48][49]. Based on these studies, many methods to control the beam shifts, including enhancing the shift amplitudes, switching the shift directions and generating asymmetric shifts, have been developed [14,[50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68].…”