We demonstrate experimentally the fine lateral circular birefringence of a tunable birefringent polymer, the first example of the spin Hall effect of light in a polymeric material. We report experimental observations of this effect using polarimetric techniques and quantum-weak-measurement techniques, reporting a weak amplification factor of 200.
Common transparent polymer films such as cellophane and household tape are frequently used as examples of birefringent materials in textbooks and classroom demonstrations. Qualitatively, birefringence is often demonstrated by layering such films between crossed-polarizers. In this work, we describe an inexpensive experimental setup for the quantitative measurement of birefringence in common household films, suitable for senior high school or undergraduate labs. Whereas traditional approaches for polarization-based classroom experiments typically use monochromatic laser light, we encourage the …
We demonstrate an optomechanical platform where optical mode conversion mediated by mechanical motion enables arbitrary tailoring of polarization states of propagating light fields. Optomechanical interactions are realized in a Fabry-Perót resonator, which naturally supports two polarization-degenerate states while an optical control field induces rotational symmetry breaking. Applying such principles, the entire Poincaré sphere is spanned by just optical control of the driving field, realizing reciprocal and non-reciprocal optomechanically-induced birefringence for linearly polarized and circ…
In this work, nonlinear optical (NLO) studies of nickel oxide doped (ranging from 0.2 to 1.0 mol%) Li2SO4-MgO-P2O5 glasses are reported. A combination of femtosecond (fs) laser, as a pumping light source and a high-accuracy polarimeter with low power probing laser, is used to investigate the light-induced optical anisotropy (OA) in these glass materials. The light-induced birefringence (LIB) exhibits slow relaxation tendency up to about 10 s suggesting on anisotropic photorefractive effect evidently dominated fast Kerr effect. This behavior is evaluated in the light of other results reported r…
Semiconductor spin lasers are distinguished from their conventional counterparts by the presence of spin-polarized carriers. The transfer of angular momentum of the spin-polarized carriers to photons provides important opportunities for the operation of lasers. With the injection of spin-polarized carriers, which lead to the circularly polarized light, the polarization of the emitted light can be changed an order of magnitude faster than its intensity. This ultrafast operation of spin lasers relies on a large birefringence, usually viewed as detrimental in spin and conventional lasers. We intr…
We experimentally investigate the chiral optical response of an individual nanostructure consisting of three equally sized spherical nanoparticles made of different materials and arranged in \ang{90} bent geometry. Placing the nanostructure on a substrate converts its morphology from achiral to chiral. Chirality leads to pronounced differential extinction, i.e., circular dichroism and optical rotation, or equivalently, circular birefringence, which would be strictly forbidden in the absence of a substrate or heterogeneity. This first experimental observation of the substrate-induced break of s…