Synthetic crystal rotation with spacetime metamaterials

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Liberal, Iñigo, Manjavacas, Alejandro
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Liberal, Iñigo
Manjavacas, Alejandro
author_facet Liberal, Iñigo
Manjavacas, Alejandro
contents The interaction of light with rotating bodies has been historically limited to rotation frequencies much smaller than optical frequencies. Here, we investigate synthetic crystal rotations, i.e., spatiotemporal modulations mimicking the rotation of an anisotropic crystal, which grant access to large rotation frequencies. Spatiotemporal modulations change the fundamental symmetries of the electromagnetic field, breaking temporal and rotation symmetries, but preserving a spatiotemporal rotation symmetry that enforces the conservation of a combination of energy and spin angular momentum (SAM). The scattering of optical pulses by synthetically rotating crystals results in spatiotemporal light with intra-pulse SAM changes. The frequency-domain response reveals sidebands with frequency/SAM locking, and negative frequency sideband transitions for large enough rotation frequencies. Our results highlight the qualitatively different light-matter interaction regimes accessed by synthetic rotations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_02495
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Synthetic crystal rotation with spacetime metamaterials
Liberal, Iñigo
Manjavacas, Alejandro
Optics
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Quantum Physics
The interaction of light with rotating bodies has been historically limited to rotation frequencies much smaller than optical frequencies. Here, we investigate synthetic crystal rotations, i.e., spatiotemporal modulations mimicking the rotation of an anisotropic crystal, which grant access to large rotation frequencies. Spatiotemporal modulations change the fundamental symmetries of the electromagnetic field, breaking temporal and rotation symmetries, but preserving a spatiotemporal rotation symmetry that enforces the conservation of a combination of energy and spin angular momentum (SAM). The scattering of optical pulses by synthetically rotating crystals results in spatiotemporal light with intra-pulse SAM changes. The frequency-domain response reveals sidebands with frequency/SAM locking, and negative frequency sideband transitions for large enough rotation frequencies. Our results highlight the qualitatively different light-matter interaction regimes accessed by synthetic rotations.
title Synthetic crystal rotation with spacetime metamaterials
topic Optics
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02495