Twisting light without spin: chirality-sensitive forces from linear polarization
Optical lateral forces provide a powerful tool for probing spin-dependent light–matter interactions that extend beyond conventional radiation pressure or gradient effects. While chirality-dependent forces have traditional required circularly polarized light, here, it is demonstrated their emergence...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | JPhys Photonics |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7647/adedea |
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| author | Giuseppina Simone |
| author_facet | Giuseppina Simone |
| author_sort | Giuseppina Simone |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Optical lateral forces provide a powerful tool for probing spin-dependent light–matter interactions that extend beyond conventional radiation pressure or gradient effects. While chirality-dependent forces have traditional required circularly polarized light, here, it is demonstrated their emergence under linearly polarized illumination through photonic structure-induced helicity. Using a transversely electric-polarized wave interacting with a multilayer system of silver-coated silicon antennae, evanescent fields where structural inhomogeneities support magnetic dipole resonances have been generated. The inhomogeneities create localized magnetic moments that enable spin–momentum locking in the near field, producing chirality-dependent lateral forces, independent of the incident beam’s helicity. Through detailed analysis of the reflected beam, it has been verified the coexistence of transverse spin and longitudinal canonical momentum components while characterizing the evanescent wave’s helicity. The experiments reveal helicity-dependent scattering from magnetic dipoles and demonstrate opposite-direction lateral displacement of chiral enantiomers. The findings establish that structured photonic systems can generate optical chirality without circular polarization, opening new possibilities for chirality-selective optical manipulation, nanoscale force sensing, and fundamental studies of spin–orbit photonic phenomena. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-df660460de8a4793b1760f84d5ee3f77 |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 2515-7647 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JPhys Photonics |
| spelling | doaj-art-df660460de8a4793b1760f84d5ee3f772025-07-24T08:58:53ZengIOP PublishingJPhys Photonics2515-76472025-01-017303502910.1088/2515-7647/adedeaTwisting light without spin: chirality-sensitive forces from linear polarizationGiuseppina Simone0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9386-1018Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica , Piazzale Tecchio 80, Napoli 80125, Italy; Department of Physics, New Uzbekistan University , Tashkent 100007, UzbekistanOptical lateral forces provide a powerful tool for probing spin-dependent light–matter interactions that extend beyond conventional radiation pressure or gradient effects. While chirality-dependent forces have traditional required circularly polarized light, here, it is demonstrated their emergence under linearly polarized illumination through photonic structure-induced helicity. Using a transversely electric-polarized wave interacting with a multilayer system of silver-coated silicon antennae, evanescent fields where structural inhomogeneities support magnetic dipole resonances have been generated. The inhomogeneities create localized magnetic moments that enable spin–momentum locking in the near field, producing chirality-dependent lateral forces, independent of the incident beam’s helicity. Through detailed analysis of the reflected beam, it has been verified the coexistence of transverse spin and longitudinal canonical momentum components while characterizing the evanescent wave’s helicity. The experiments reveal helicity-dependent scattering from magnetic dipoles and demonstrate opposite-direction lateral displacement of chiral enantiomers. The findings establish that structured photonic systems can generate optical chirality without circular polarization, opening new possibilities for chirality-selective optical manipulation, nanoscale force sensing, and fundamental studies of spin–orbit photonic phenomena.https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7647/adedeaspin–orbit interactionchirality-dependent optical forcesmagnetic dipole resonancephotonic helicity engineering |
| spellingShingle | Giuseppina Simone Twisting light without spin: chirality-sensitive forces from linear polarization JPhys Photonics spin–orbit interaction chirality-dependent optical forces magnetic dipole resonance photonic helicity engineering |
| title | Twisting light without spin: chirality-sensitive forces from linear polarization |
| title_full | Twisting light without spin: chirality-sensitive forces from linear polarization |
| title_fullStr | Twisting light without spin: chirality-sensitive forces from linear polarization |
| title_full_unstemmed | Twisting light without spin: chirality-sensitive forces from linear polarization |
| title_short | Twisting light without spin: chirality-sensitive forces from linear polarization |
| title_sort | twisting light without spin chirality sensitive forces from linear polarization |
| topic | spin–orbit interaction chirality-dependent optical forces magnetic dipole resonance photonic helicity engineering |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7647/adedea |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT giuseppinasimone twistinglightwithoutspinchiralitysensitiveforcesfromlinearpolarization |