Tunable spin-dependent splitting of light beam in a chiral metamaterial slab

Abstract

Spin-dependent splitting of the reflected beam for the chiral metamaterial slab is investigated by analyzing the spatial transverse shifts (TSs) of the two spin-dependent components of the reflected beam. Two components refer to the right-circularly polarized and left-circularly polarized reflected wave components. The influences of the physical parameters and the polarization of the incident beam on the spin-dependent splitting are discussed. The results show that two components are asymmetric due to the cross-polarization of the electromagnetic fields in chiral slab. By adjusting the angle of incidence and the polarization state of the incident beam, the spatial splitting can be enhanced. Moreover, the effect of the thickness on the spatial TSs of the two components becomes weak with increasing the angle of incidence. To oneʼs interest, the spin-dependent splitting also can be realized for two special linear (TE and TM) polarization. Our study may provide an opportunity to realize and control the transverse splitting of the light, and open up the possibility for developing new nanophotonic devices.

Chirality-enabled topological phase transitions in parity-time symmetric systems

“…In contrast to the results in the nonchiral slab system, both asymmetrical PSHE and periodical PSHE have been found in the chiral interface or chiral slab systems with only the real parts of the chirality parameter [27][28][29][30]. Therefore, what is the difference in the origin of this exotic PSHE?…”

“…Consequently, manipulating the TPT enables the modulation of the PSHE through the properties of the light beam. Furthermore, the PSHE can also be modulated by the properties of the medium [25,26], and chirality is an effective degree of freedom for regulating PSHE [27][28][29][30]. Although natural materials usually exhibit weak chirality [31], an increase in the chirality parameter is possible since chiral metamaterials can dramatically enhance the electromagnetic coupling and have greater chirality [32,33], thereby more effectively regulating the PSHE [27,28,34].…”

Magneto‐Optical Modulation of Photonic Spin Hall Effect of Graphene in Terahertz Region

“…The transverse shift is induced by the spin–orbit momentum coupling at the interface. In recent years, the control and modulation of PSHE in different materials and waveguides are proposed to facilitate its applications in precision metrology and quantum information processing . PSHE can be enhanced by metamaterials and metasurfaces.…”