Nonreciprocal Transverse Photonic Spin and Magnetization-Induced Electromagnetic Spin-Orbit Coupling
Abstract
We present a formulation of electromagnetic spin-orbit coupling in magneto-optic media, and propose an alternative source of spin-orbit coupling to non-paraxial optics vortices. Our treatment puts forth a formulation of nonreciprocal transverse-spin angular-momentum-density shifts for evanescent waves in magneto-optic waveguide media. It shows that magnetization-induced electromagnetic spin-orbit coupling is possible, and that it leads to unequal spin to orbital angular momentum conversion in magneto-optic media evanescent waves in opposite propagation-directions. Generation of free-space helicoidal beams based on this conversion is shown to be spin-helicity- and magnetization-dependent. We show that transverse-spin to orbital angular momentum coupling into magneto-optic waveguide media engenders spin-helicity-dependent unidirectional propagation. This unidirectional effect produces different orbital angular momenta in opposite directions upon excitation-spin-helicity reversals.
- Publication:
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Scientific Reports
- Pub Date:
- January 2017
- DOI:
- 10.1038/srep39972
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1606.08334
- Bibcode:
- 2017NatSR...739972L
- Keywords:
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- Physics - Optics
- E-Print:
- 11 pages, 4 figures In this second version, I have added an explicit expression for the spin-orbit coupling at the end of the article