Ultrafast space-time optical merons in momentum-energy space

Fuente: arXiv
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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yessenov, Murat, Dorrah, Ahmed H., Guo, Cheng, Hall, Layton A., Park, Joon-Suh, Free, Justin, Johnson, Eric G., Capasso, Federico, Fan, Shanhui, Abouraddy, Ayman F.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Yessenov, Murat
Dorrah, Ahmed H.
Guo, Cheng
Hall, Layton A.
Park, Joon-Suh
Free, Justin
Johnson, Eric G.
Capasso, Federico
Fan, Shanhui
Abouraddy, Ayman F.
author_facet Yessenov, Murat
Dorrah, Ahmed H.
Guo, Cheng
Hall, Layton A.
Park, Joon-Suh
Free, Justin
Johnson, Eric G.
Capasso, Federico
Fan, Shanhui
Abouraddy, Ayman F.
contents Skyrmions, topologically non-trivial localized spin structures, are fertile ground for exploring emergent phenomena in condensed matter physics and next-generation magnetic-memory technologies. Although magnetics and optics readily lend themselves to two-dimensional realizations of spin texture, only recently have breakthroughs brought forth three-dimensional (3D) magnetic skyrmions, whereas their optical counterparts have eluded observation to date because their realization requires precise control over the spatiotemporal spectrum. Here, we demonstrate the first 3D-localized optical skyrmionic structures with a non-trivial topological spin profile by imprinting meron spin texture on open and closed spectral surfaces in the momentum-energy space of an ultrafast optical wave packet. Precise control over the spatiotemporal spin texture of light - a key requisite for synthesizing 3D optical merons - is the product of synergy between novel methodologies in the modulation of light jointly in space and time, digital holography, and large-area birefringent metasurfaces. Our work advances the fields of spin optics and topological photonics and may inspire new developments in imaging, metrology, optical communications, and quantum technologies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_11980
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Ultrafast space-time optical merons in momentum-energy space
Yessenov, Murat
Dorrah, Ahmed H.
Guo, Cheng
Hall, Layton A.
Park, Joon-Suh
Free, Justin
Johnson, Eric G.
Capasso, Federico
Fan, Shanhui
Abouraddy, Ayman F.
Optics
Skyrmions, topologically non-trivial localized spin structures, are fertile ground for exploring emergent phenomena in condensed matter physics and next-generation magnetic-memory technologies. Although magnetics and optics readily lend themselves to two-dimensional realizations of spin texture, only recently have breakthroughs brought forth three-dimensional (3D) magnetic skyrmions, whereas their optical counterparts have eluded observation to date because their realization requires precise control over the spatiotemporal spectrum. Here, we demonstrate the first 3D-localized optical skyrmionic structures with a non-trivial topological spin profile by imprinting meron spin texture on open and closed spectral surfaces in the momentum-energy space of an ultrafast optical wave packet. Precise control over the spatiotemporal spin texture of light - a key requisite for synthesizing 3D optical merons - is the product of synergy between novel methodologies in the modulation of light jointly in space and time, digital holography, and large-area birefringent metasurfaces. Our work advances the fields of spin optics and topological photonics and may inspire new developments in imaging, metrology, optical communications, and quantum technologies.
title Ultrafast space-time optical merons in momentum-energy space
topic Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.11980