Topologies of light in electric-magnetic space
Fuente:
arXiv
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866916857231966208 |
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| author | Vernon, Alex J. |
| author_facet | Vernon, Alex J. |
| contents | In nonparaxial, monochromatic light the electric and magnetic fields generally have different energy densities, different singularities and different polarisation structures. A topological picture of the electric field or magnetic field in isolation cannot capture the elusive topology of nonparaxial light that exists in the spatially dependent relationship between the two fields: the degree to which light breaks fundamental symmetries (parity, duality, time-reversal). With this work a new ellipse is introduced that resides not in real space, but in electric-magnetic (EM) space, and whose geometry depends on these broken symmetries. The EM ellipse has circular and linear polarisation singularities and may be organised into particle-like textures. These thus-far hidden topologies are present even in rudimentary structured waves, for a second-order EM-space meron is shown to be present in a focussed linearly polarised vortex beam. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_16721 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Topologies of light in electric-magnetic space Vernon, Alex J. Optics In nonparaxial, monochromatic light the electric and magnetic fields generally have different energy densities, different singularities and different polarisation structures. A topological picture of the electric field or magnetic field in isolation cannot capture the elusive topology of nonparaxial light that exists in the spatially dependent relationship between the two fields: the degree to which light breaks fundamental symmetries (parity, duality, time-reversal). With this work a new ellipse is introduced that resides not in real space, but in electric-magnetic (EM) space, and whose geometry depends on these broken symmetries. The EM ellipse has circular and linear polarisation singularities and may be organised into particle-like textures. These thus-far hidden topologies are present even in rudimentary structured waves, for a second-order EM-space meron is shown to be present in a focussed linearly polarised vortex beam. |
| title | Topologies of light in electric-magnetic space |
| topic | Optics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.16721 |