Using full-wave numerical simulations and analytical multipole expansions we investigated the properties of real-space polarization singularities that emerge in light scattering by subwavelength particles. We considered spherical and torus particles made of dielectric or perfect-electric-conductor material. We determined the topological indices and the trajectories of electric-field polarization singularities in both the near-field and far-field regions. In the far-field region, a total of four singularities are identified and the sum of their polarization topological indices is two, independent of the particle's geometric shape. In the near-field region, the polarization singularities strongly depend on the particle's shape and the polarization of incident light, and their index sum is not governed by the Poincaré-Hopf theorem anymore due to the non-transverse nature of the fields. From near field to far field, a flipping of sign can happen to the polarization topological indices of the C lines. The far-field properties of the singularities can be well explained by the interference of the excited multipoles, but their near-field properties can be strongly affected by the evanescent fields that are not captured by the multipole expansions. Our work uncovers the important relationship between particles' geometric properties and the polarization singularities of their scattering field. The results can be applied to manipulate polarization singularities in nanophotonic systems and could generate novel applications in optical sensing.
Polarization singularities of vectorial electromagnetic fields locate at the positions (such as points, lines, or surfaces) where properties of polarization ellipses are not defined. They are manifested as circular and linear polarization, for which respectively the semi-major axes and normal vectors of polarization ellipses become indefinite. First observed in conical diffraction in the 1830s, the field of polarization singularities has been systematically reshaped and deepened by many pioneers of wave optics. Together with other exotic phenomena such as non-Hermiticity and topology, polariza…
We describe the evolution of a paraxial electromagnetic wave characterizing by a non-uniform polarization distribution with singularities and propagating in a weakly anisotropic medium. Our approach is based on the Stokes vector evolution equation applied to a non-uniform initial polarization field. In the case of a homogeneous medium, this equation is integrated analytically. This yields a 3-dimensional distribution of the polarization parameters containing singularities, i.e. C-lines of circular polarization and L-surfaces of linear polarization. The general theory is applied to specific exa…
Optical forces in the near fields have important applications in on-chip optical manipulations of small particles and molecules. Here, we report a study of optical force and torque on small particles induced by the optical polarization singularities of a gold cylinder. We show that the scattering of the cylinder generates both electric and magnetic C lines (i.e., lines of polarization singularities) in the near fields, and the C lines can induce complex force and torque on a dielectric/magnetic particle. The force and torque manifest dramatic spatial variations with interesting symmetry proper…
We present a convenient method to generate vector beams of light having polarization singularities on their axis, via partial spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion in a suitably patterned liquid crystal cell. The resulting polarization patterns exhibit a C-point on the beam axis and an L-line loop around it, and may have different geometrical structures such as \qo{lemon}, \qo{star}, and \qo{spiral}. Our generation method allows us to control the radius of L-line loop around the central C-point. Moreover, we investigate the free-air propagation of these fields across a Rayleigh range.
Topological singularities are ubiquitous in many areas of physics. Polarization singularities are locations at which an aspect of the polarization ellipse of light becomes undetermined or degenerate. At C points the orientation of the ellipse becomes degenerate and light's electric field vector describes a perfect circle in time. In 2D slices of 3D random fields the distribution in space of the C points is reminiscent of that of interacting particles. With near-field experiments we show that when light becomes truly 2D, this has severe consequences for the distribution of C points in space. Th…
The work is devoted to the self-action of laser beams propagating in the isotropic phase of a cholesteric liquid crystal near the transition temperature to the mesophase in a wide range of parameter values characterizing the nonlocality of the nonlinear optical response of the medium, defocusing in the medium, the power of incident laser radiation and diffraction in the liquid crystal. The origin of the primary singularities of both polarization components of radiation in a wide range of parameters of radiation and the medium is investigated for different values of the parameter characterizing…
Addressing subwavelength object and displacement is crucial in optical nanometrology. We show in this Letter that nano antennas with subwavelength structures can be addressed precisely by incident beams with singularity. This accurate feeding beyond the diffraction limit can lead to dynamic control of the unidirectional scattering in the far field. The combination of polarization discontinuity of the incoming singular beam, along with the rapid phase variation near the antenna leads to remarkable sensitivity of the far field scattering to displacement at deep subwavelength scale. This opens a …
Optical singularities play a major role in modern optics and are frequently deployed in structured light, super-resolution microscopy, and holography. While phase singularities are uniquely defined as locations of undefined phase, polarization singularities studied thus far are either partial, i.e., bright points of well-defined polarization, or unstable for small field perturbations. We demonstrate for the first time a complete, topologically protected polarization singularity; it is located in the 4D space spanned by the three spatial dimensions and the wavelength and is created in the focus…
The practical applications of chiral discrimination are usually limited by the weak chiral response of enantiomers and the high complexity of detection methods. Here, we propose to use the C lines (i.e., lines of polarization singularities) emerged in light scattering by a metal sphere to detect small chiral particles. Using full-wave numerical simulations and analytical multipole expansions, we determined the absorption dissymmetry of deep-subwavelength helices (i.e., chiral particles) at different positions on the C lines. We find that the absorption dissymmetry can be much larger than that …
Core concepts in singular optics, especially the polarization singularity, have rapidly penetrated the surging fields of topological and nonhermitian photonics. For open photonic structures with degeneracies in particular, the polarization singularity would inevitably encounter another sweeping concept of Berry phase. Several investigations have discussed, in an inexplicit way, the connections between both concepts, hinting at that nonzero topological charges for far-field polarizations on a loop is inextricably linked to its nontrivial Berry phase when degeneracies are enclosed. In this work,…
Structured optical fields embedded with polarization singularities (PSs) have attracted extensive attention due to their capability to retain topological invariance during propagation. Many advances in PSs research have been made over the past 20 years in the areas of mathematical description, generation and detection technologies, propagation dynamics, and applications. However, one of the most crucial and difficult tasks continues to be manipulating PSs with multiple degrees of freedom, especially in three-dimensional (3D) tailored optical fields. We propose and demonstrate the longitudinal …
Epsilon-near-zero and epsilon near-pole materials enable reflective systems supporting a class of symmetry-protected and accidental embedded eigenstates (EE) characterized by a diverging phase-resonance. Here we show that pairs of topologically protected scattering singularities necessarily emerge from EEs when a non-Hermitian parameter is introduced, lifting the degeneracy between oppositely charged singularities. The underlying topological charges are characterized by an integer winding number and appear as phase vortices of the complex reflection coefficient. By creating and annihilating th…
All-optical programming of polarization singularities in a photonic-crystal laser
Ecole Centrale de Lyon, CNRS, INSA Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CPE Lyon, Institut des Nanotechnologies de Lyon (INL)（里昂中央理工学院，法国国家科学研究中心，里昂国立应用科学学院，里昂第一大学，里昂高等化工学院，里昂纳米技术研究所）；Department of Physics, NISM Institute, University of Namur（纳慕尔大学物理系，NISM研究所）；Centre for OptoElectronics and Biophotonics (COEB), School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University（南洋理工大学电气与电子工程学院光电与生物光子学中心）；CNRS-International-NTU-Thales Research Alliance (CINTRA)（法国国家科学研究中心-国际南洋理工大学-泰雷兹研究联盟）
A single paraxial beam reflection at a plane dielectric interface, configured appropriately, can lead to the formation of a polarization singularity in the inhomogeneously polarized output beam-field for any central angle of incidence. In this paper we derive the necessary condition to realize this effect. We explore the phase singularity characteristics associated to this polarization-singular field; and explore the dynamics of the singularities due to controlled variations of the input polarization. The simulation-generated exact field information lead to the exploration of the unique Goos-H…
A new classification of circular polarization C points in three-dimensional polarization ellipse fields is proposed. The classification type depends on the out-of-plane variation of the polarization ellipse axis, in particular, whether the ellipse axes are in the plane of circular polarization one or three times. A minimal set of parameters for this classification are derived, and discussed in the context of the familiar in-plane C point classification into lemon, star, and monstar types. This new geometric classification is related to the Möbius index of polarization singularities recently in…
In this article, we study the emergence of polarization singularities in the scattered fields of optical resonators excited by linearly polarized plane waves. First, we prove analytically that combinations of isotropic electric and magnetic dipoles can sustain L surfaces, and C lines that propagate from the near-field to the far field. Moreover, based on these analytical results, we derive anomalous scattering Kerker conditions trough singular optics arguments. Secondly, through exact full-field calculations, we demonstrate that high refractive index spherical resonators present such topologic…
Chiral optical effects are generally quantified along some specific incident directions of exciting waves (especially for extrinsic chiralities of achiral structures) or defined as direction-independent properties by averaging the responses among all structure orientations. Though of great significance for various applications, chirality extremization (maximized or minimized) with respect to incident directions or structure orientations have not been explored, especially in a systematic manner. In this study we examine the chiral responses of open photonic structures from perspectives of quasi…
We present the results of a study of the Poynting vector field generic singularities at the resonant light scattering of a plane monochromatic linearly polarized electromagnetic wave by a subwavelength particle. We reveal the impact of the problem symmetry, the spatial dimension, and the energy conservation law on the properties of the singularities. We show that, in the cases when the problem symmetry results in the existence of an invariant plane for the Poynting vector field lines, a formation of a standing wave in the immediate vicinity of a singularity gives rise to a saddle-type singular…
A physical theory is presented for polarized light from an aspect of polarization singularity.This is carried out by analyzing the evolution equation of the Stokes parameters that is derived from the nonlinear Schrodinger type equation. The problem is explored from two aspects:The first is concerning the single mode Stokes parameter that is described by the propagation distance $ z $. The trajectory of the polarization singularities is simply given by the points satisfying a rule: $ S_3 (z) = +(-)S_0 $ and $ 0 $ ($ S_3 $ represents the third component of the Stokes parameters), which form a tu…
Speckle patterns produced by random optical fields with two (or more) widely different correlation lengths exhibit speckle spots that are themselves highly speckled. Using computer simulations and analytic theory we present results for the point singularities of speckled speckle fields: optical vortices in scalar (one polarization component) fields; C points in vector (two polarization component) fields. In single correlation length fields both types of singularities tend to be more{}-or{}-less uniformly distributed. In contrast, the singularity structure of speckled speckle is anomalous: for …
We present a method to measure the vector-field light scattering of individual microscopic objects. The polarization-dependent optical field images are measured with quantitative phase imaging at the sample plane, and then numerically propagated to the far-field plane. This approach allows the two-dimensional polarization-dependent angle-resolved light scattered patterns from individual object to be obtained with high precision and sensitivity. Using this method, we present the measurements of the polarization-dependent light scattering of a liquid crystal droplet and individual silver nanowir…
We reveal how to exploit joint spatial-electromagnetic duality symmetries to obtain invariant scattering properties (including extinction, scattering, absorption) of self-dual scattering systems for incident waves of arbitrary polarizations. The electromagnetic duality ensures the helicity preservation along all scattering directions, and thus intrinsically eliminates the interferences between the two scattering channels originating from the circularly polarized components of incident waves. This absence of interference directly secures invariant scattering properties for all polarizations loc…
We theoretically investigate the suitability of the selection of pump frequency ($ω_p$) with respect to the signal frequency ($ω_s$) for the best polarization insensitive phase conjugate generation through Bragg-scattering based four-wave mixing in nonlinear SOAs. We study the positive detuning ($ω_s>ω_p$) and negative detuning ($ω_s<ω_p)$ scenario for the inherent polarization transformation of conjugate generation at both the ports of SOA. Conjugate generation is desired to be through a unitary transformation for its utility in further digital signal processing, and we prove that only positi…
This paper aims at studying the angular scattering properties of bianisotropic metasurfaces and at clarifying the different roles played by tangential and normal polarization densities. Different types of metasurfaces are considered for this study and are classified according to their symmetrical/asymmetrical and reciprocal/nonreciprocal angular scattering behavior. Finally, the paper presents the relationships between the symmetrical angular scattering properties of reciprocal metasurfaces and the structural symmetries of their scattering particles. This may prove to be practically useful for…
Polarization independent Mie scattering of building blocks is foundational for constructions of optical systems with robust functionalities. Conventional studies for such polarization independence are generally restricted to special states of either linear or circular polarizations, widely neglecting elliptically-polarized states that are generically present in realistic applications. Here we present a comprehensive recipe to achieve invariant scattering properties (including extinction, scattering and absorption) for arbitrary polarizations, requiring only rotation symmetry and absence of opt…
We experimentally investigate the depolarizing power and the polarization entropy of a broad class of scattering optical media. By means of polarization tomography, these quantities are derived from an effective Mueller matrix, which is introduced through a formal description of the multi-mode detection scheme we use, as recently proposed by Aiello and Woerdman (arXiv:quant-ph/0407234). This proposal emphasized an intriguing universality in the polarization aspects of classical as well as quantum light scattering; in this contribution we demonstrate experimentally that this universality is obe…
Singularities of the Poynting vector field at resonant light scattering by nanoparticles are discussed and classified. It is shown that there are two generic types of them, namely (i) the singularities related to the vanishing of the magnetic (and/or electric) field at the singular points and (ii) the singularities related to the formation of standing waves in the proximity of the singular points. The connection of these types of singularities to the topology of the singular points and the space dimension (3D vs. 2D) is revealed.
We present an experimental and theoretical study of the angle- and polarization-dependent light extinction in random arrays of polydisperse semiconductor nanowires epitaxially grown on substrates. The specular reflectance is described by averaging the scattering properties of individual nanowires obtained from Lorenz-Mie theory over the diameter distribution. The complex effective refractive index describing the propagation and attenuation of the coherent beam scattered in forward direction is determined in the independent scattering approximation and used to calculate the angle- and polarizat…
Wavefront shaping has revolutionized imaging deep in scattering media, being able to spatially and temporally refocus light through or inside the medium. However, wavefront shaping is not compatible yet with polarization-resolved microscopy given the need of polarizing optics to refocus light with a controlled polarization state. Here, we show that wavefront shaping is not only able to restore a focus, but it can also recover the injected polarization state without using any polarizing optics at the detection. This counter-intuitive effect occurs up to several transport mean free path thick sa…
Non-Hermitian systems characterized by suitable spatial distributions of gain and loss can exhibit "spectral singularities" in the form of zero-width resonances associated to real-frequency poles in the scattering operator. Here, we study this intriguing phenomenon in connection with cylindrical geometries, and explore possible applications to controlling and tailoring in unconventional ways the scattering response of sub-wavelength and wavelength-sized objects. Among the possible implications and applications, we illustrate the additional degrees of freedom available in the scattering-absorpt…
A measure of the degree of polarization for the three-dimensional polarization matrix (coherence matrix) of an electromagnetic field is proposed, based on Rayleigh scattering. The degree of polarization, due to dipole scattering of the three-dimensional state of polarization, is averaged over all scattering directions. This gives a well-defined purity measure, which, unlike other proposed measures of the three-dimensional degree of polarization, is not a unitary invariant of the matrix. This is demonstrated and discussed for several examples, including a partially polarized transverse beam.
Dynamics of polarization optical singularities chain reactions in generic elliptically polarized speckle fields created in photorefractive crystal LiNbO3 was investigated in details Induced speckle field develops in the tens of minutes scale due to photorefractive 'optical damage effect' induced by incident beam of He-Ne laser. It was shown that polarization singularities develop through topological chain reactions of developing speckle fields driven by photorefractive nonlinearities induced by incident laser beam. All optical singularities (C points, optical vortices, optical diabolos,) are d…
The angular dependence of the differential cross section of unpolarized light-by-light scattering summed over final polarizations is the same in any low-energy effective theory of quantum electrodynamics and also in Born-Infeld electrodynamics. In this paper we derive general expressions for polarization-dependent low-energy scattering amplitudes, including a hypothetical parity-violating situation. These are evaluated for quantum electrodynamics with charged scalar or spinor particles, which give strikingly different polarization effects. Ordinary quantum electrodynamics is found to exhibit r…
In order to explore electric-field-induced transformations of polarization singularities in the polarization-resolved angular (conoscopic) patterns emerging after deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystal (DHFLC) cells with subwavelength helix pitch, we combine the transfer matrix formalism with the results for the effective dielectric tensor of biaxial FLCs evaluated using an improved technique of averaging over distorted helical structures. Within the framework of the transfer matrix method, we deduce a number of symmetry relations and show that the symmetry axis of L lines (curves of line…
We report on scattering induced valley polarization enhancement in monolayer molybdenum disulfide. With thermally activated and charge doping introduced scattering, our sample exhibits seven? and twelve-folds of improvements respectively. This counter-intuitive effect is attributed to disruptions to valley pseudospin precession caused by rapid modulation of exciton momentum and concomitant local exchange interaction field, at time scales much shorter than the precession period. In contrast, the valley coherence is improved by thermally activated scattering, but not by charge doping induced sca…
The polarization of x-rays plays an outstanding role in experimental techniques such as non-resonant magnetic x-ray scattering and resonant x-ray scattering of magnetic and multipolar order. Different instrumental methods applied to synchrotron light can transform its natural polarization into an arbitrary polarization state. Several synchrotron applications, in particular in the field of magnetic and resonant scattering rely on the improvement in the signal/noise ratio or the deeper insight into the ordered state and the scattering process made possible through these polarization techniques. …
We investigate the survival of circularly polarized light in random scattering media. The surprising persistence of this form of polarization has a known dependence on the size and refractive index of scattering particles, however a general description regarding polydisperse media is lacking. Through analysis of Mie theory, we present a means of calculating the magnitude of circular polarization memory in complex media, with total generality in the distribution of particle sizes and refractive indices. Quantification of this memory effect enables an alternate pathway towards recovering particl…
Spectral singularities are among generic mathematical features of complex scattering potentials. Physically they correspond to scattering states that behave like zero-width resonances. For a simple optical system, we show that a spectral singularity appears whenever the gain coefficient coincides with its threshold value and other parameters of the system are selected properly. We explore a concrete realization of spectral singularities for a typical semiconductor gain medium and propose a method of constructing a tunable laser that operates at threshold gain.
Spectral singularities are certain points of the continuous spectrum of generic complex scattering potentials. We review the recent developments leading to the discovery of their physical meaning, consequences, and generalizations. In particular, we give a simple definition of spectral singularities, provide a general introduction to spectral consequences of ${\cal PT}$-symmetry (clarifying some of the controversies surrounding this subject), outline the main ideas and constructions used in the pseudo-Hermitian representation of quantum mechanics, and discuss how spectral singularities entered…
A peculiar property of complex scattering potentials is the appearance of spectral singularities. These are energy eigenvalues for certain scattering states that similarly to resonance states have infinite reflection and transmission coefficients. This property reveals an interesting resonance effect with possible applications in waveguide physics. We study the spectral singularities of a complex barrier potential and explore their application in designing a waveguide that functions as a resonator. We show that for the easily accessible sizes of the waveguide and its gain region, we can realiz…
