Dynamical control of topology in ferroelectric skyrmions via twisted light

Abstract

Twisted light carries a non-zero orbital angular momentum, that can be transferred from light to electrons and particles ranging from nanometers to micrometers. Up to now, the interplay between twisted light with dipolar systems has scarcely been explored, though the latter bear abundant forms of topologies such as skyrmions and embrace strong light-matter coupling. Here, using first-principles-based simulations, we show that twisted light can excite and drive dynamical polar skyrmions and transfer its nonzero winding number to ferroelectric ultrathin films. The skyrmion is successively created and annihilated alternately at the two interfaces, and experiences a periodic transition from a markedly "Bloch" to "Neel" character, accompanied with the emergence of a "Bloch point" topological defect with vanishing polarization. The dynamical evolution of skyrmions is connected to a constant jump of topological number between "0" and "1" over time. These intriguing phenomena are found to have an electrostatic origin. Our study thus demonstrates that, and explains why, this unique light-matter interaction can be very powerful in creating and manipulating topological solitons in functional materials.

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Revealing the Three-Dimensional Arrangement of Polar Topology in Nanoparticles
• Terahertz-field activation of polar skyrons
• Photonic Shankar skyrmion
• Poincaré sphere engineering of dynamical ferroelectric topological solitons
• Optical-vortex-pulse induced nonequilibrium spin textures in spin-orbit coupled electrons
• Quantum Optical Spanner: Twisting Superconductors with Vortex Beam via Higgs Mode