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Topologically protected optical polarization singularities in four-dimensional space

Optical singularities play a major role in modern optics and are frequently deployed in structured light, super-resolution microscopy, and holography. While phase singularities are uniquely defined as locations of undefined phase, polarization singularities studied thus far are either partial, i.e.,...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Spaegele, Christina M., Tamagnone, Michele, Lim, Soon Wei Daniel, Ossiander, Marcus, Meretska, Maryna L., Capasso, Federico
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10275587/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37327327
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adh0369
Descripción
Sumario:Optical singularities play a major role in modern optics and are frequently deployed in structured light, super-resolution microscopy, and holography. While phase singularities are uniquely defined as locations of undefined phase, polarization singularities studied thus far are either partial, i.e., bright points of well-defined polarization, or are unstable for small field perturbations. We demonstrate a complete, topologically protected polarization singularity; it is located in the four-dimensional space spanned by the three spatial dimensions and the wavelength and is created in the focus of a cascaded metasurface-lens system. The field Jacobian plays a key role in the design of such higher-dimensional singularities, which can be extended to multidimensional wave phenomena, and pave the way for unconventional applications in topological photonics and precision sensing.