Bloch-type photonic skyrmions in optical chiral multilayers
arXiv:2012.01015 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.023109
Abstract
Magnetic skyrmions are topological quasiparticles in magnetic field. Until recently, as one of their photonic counterparts, Néel-type photonic skyrmion is discovered in surface plasmon polaritons. The deep-subwavelength features of the photonic skyrmions suggest their potentials in quantum technologies and data storage. So far, the Bloch-type photonic skyrmion has yet to be demonstrated in this brand new research field. Here, by exploiting the quantum spin Hall effect of a plasmonic optical vortex in multilayered structure, we predict the existence of photonic twisted-Néel- and Bloch-type skyrmions in chiral materials. Their chirality-dependent features can be considered as additional degrees-of-freedom for future chiral sensing, information processing and storage technologies. In particular, our findings enlarge the family of photonic skyrmions and reveal a remarkable resemblance of the feature of chiral materials in two seemingly distant fields: photonic skyrmions and magnetic skyrmions.
6 pages, 5 figures
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- Topological metasurface: From passive toward active and beyond
- On-Chip Optical Skyrmionic Beam Generators
- Symmetry-protected photonic chiral spin textures by spin-orbit coupling
- Spin/momentum properties of the paraxial optical beams
- Programmable skyrmions for robust communication and intelligent sensing
- Transverse spin angular momentum of space-time surface plasmon polariton wave packet
- Coherent backscattering in the topological Hall effect
- Quadrature skyrmions in two-dimensionally arrayed parametric resonators