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Chiral Light Emission from a Sphere Revealed by Nanoscale Relative-Phase Mapping

[Image: see text] Circularly polarized light (CPL) is currently receiving much attention as a key ingredient for next-generation information technologies, such as quantum communication and encryption. CPL photon generation used in those applications is commonly realized by coupling achiral optical q...

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Autores principales: Matsukata, Taeko, García de Abajo, F. Javier, Sannomiya, Takumi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Chemical Society 2020
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7906114/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32845613
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c05624
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author Matsukata, Taeko
García de Abajo, F. Javier
Sannomiya, Takumi
author_facet Matsukata, Taeko
García de Abajo, F. Javier
Sannomiya, Takumi
author_sort Matsukata, Taeko
collection PubMed
description [Image: see text] Circularly polarized light (CPL) is currently receiving much attention as a key ingredient for next-generation information technologies, such as quantum communication and encryption. CPL photon generation used in those applications is commonly realized by coupling achiral optical quantum emitters to chiral nanoantennas. Here, we explore a different strategy consisting in exciting a nanosphere—the ultimate symmetric structure—to produce CPL emission along an arbitrary direction. Specifically, we demonstrate chiral emission from a silicon nanosphere induced by an electron beam based on two different strategies: either shifting the relative phase of degenerate orthogonal dipole modes or interfering electric and magnetic modes. We prove these concepts both theoretically and experimentally by visualizing the phase and polarization using a fully polarimetric four-dimensional cathodoluminescence method. Besides their fundamental interest, our results support the use of free-electron-induced light emission from spherically symmetric systems as a versatile platform for the generation of chiral light with on-demand control over the phase and degree of polarization.
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spelling pubmed-79061142021-08-26 Chiral Light Emission from a Sphere Revealed by Nanoscale Relative-Phase Mapping Matsukata, Taeko García de Abajo, F. Javier Sannomiya, Takumi ACS Nano [Image: see text] Circularly polarized light (CPL) is currently receiving much attention as a key ingredient for next-generation information technologies, such as quantum communication and encryption. CPL photon generation used in those applications is commonly realized by coupling achiral optical quantum emitters to chiral nanoantennas. Here, we explore a different strategy consisting in exciting a nanosphere—the ultimate symmetric structure—to produce CPL emission along an arbitrary direction. Specifically, we demonstrate chiral emission from a silicon nanosphere induced by an electron beam based on two different strategies: either shifting the relative phase of degenerate orthogonal dipole modes or interfering electric and magnetic modes. We prove these concepts both theoretically and experimentally by visualizing the phase and polarization using a fully polarimetric four-dimensional cathodoluminescence method. Besides their fundamental interest, our results support the use of free-electron-induced light emission from spherically symmetric systems as a versatile platform for the generation of chiral light with on-demand control over the phase and degree of polarization. American Chemical Society 2020-08-26 2021-02-23 /pmc/articles/PMC7906114/ /pubmed/32845613 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c05624 Text en
spellingShingle Matsukata, Taeko
García de Abajo, F. Javier
Sannomiya, Takumi
Chiral Light Emission from a Sphere Revealed by Nanoscale Relative-Phase Mapping
title Chiral Light Emission from a Sphere Revealed by Nanoscale Relative-Phase Mapping
title_full Chiral Light Emission from a Sphere Revealed by Nanoscale Relative-Phase Mapping
title_fullStr Chiral Light Emission from a Sphere Revealed by Nanoscale Relative-Phase Mapping
title_full_unstemmed Chiral Light Emission from a Sphere Revealed by Nanoscale Relative-Phase Mapping
title_short Chiral Light Emission from a Sphere Revealed by Nanoscale Relative-Phase Mapping
title_sort chiral light emission from a sphere revealed by nanoscale relative-phase mapping
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7906114/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32845613
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c05624
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