Journal
SCIENCE CHINA-PHYSICS MECHANICS & ASTRONOMY
Volume 66, Issue 11, Pages -Publisher
SCIENCE PRESS
DOI: 10.1007/s11433-023-2177-3
Keywords
photonic spin Hall effect; effective-medium theory; spin-orbit interaction of light
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Effective-medium theory is a fundamental tool in modelling homogenization, simplifying the study of light-matter interactions. A breakthrough in this theory has been discovered, showing that the photonic spin Hall effect can be used to measure structural defects in all-dielectric systems at an extremely small scale.
Effective-medium theory pertains to the theoretical modelling of homogenization, which aims to replace an inhomogeneous structure of subwavelength-scale constituents with a homogeneous effective medium. The effective-medium theory is fundamental to various realms, including electromagnetics and material science, since it can largely decrease the complexity in the exploration of light-matter interactions by providing simple acceptable approximation. Generally, the effective-medium theory is thought to be applicable to any all-dielectric system with deep-subwavelength constituents, under the condition that the effective medium does not have a critical angle, at which the total internal reflection occurs. Here we reveal a fundamental breakdown of the effective-medium theory that can be applied in very general conditions: showing it for deep-subwavelength all-dielectric multilayers even without a critical angle. Our finding relies on an exotic photonic spin Hall effect, which is shown to be ultrasensitive to the stacking order of deep-subwavelength dielectric layers, since the spin-orbit interaction of light is dependent on slight phase accumulations during the wave propagation. Our results indicate that the photonic spin Hall effect could provide a promising and powerful tool for measuring structural defects for all-dielectric systems even in the extreme nanometer scale.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available