Wide-angle giant photonic spin Hall effect

The photonic spin Hall effect is a manifestation of the spin-orbit interaction of light and can be measured by a transverse shift delta of photons with opposite spins. The precise measurement of transverse shifts can enable many spin-related applications, such as precise metrology and optical sensing. However, this transverse shift is generally small (i.e., delta/lambda < 10(-1), where A is the wavelength), which impedes its precise measurement. To date, proposals to generate a giant spin Hall effect (namely, with delta/lambda > 10(2)) have severe limitations, particularly its occurrence only over a narrow angular cone (with a width of Delta theta < 1 degrees). Here we propose a universal scheme to realize the wide-angle giant photonic spin Hall effect with Delta theta > 70 degrees by exploiting the interface between free space and uniaxial epsilon-near-zero media. The underlying mechanism is ascribed to the almost-perfect polarization splitting between s and p polarized waves at the designed interface. Remarkably, this almost-perfect polarization splitting does not resort to the interference effect and is insensitive to the incident angle, which then gives rise to the wide-angle giant photonic spin Hall effect.

Automated summary

The photonic spin Hall effect, which is a manifestation of the spin-orbit interaction of light, can be measured through the transverse shift of photons with opposite spins. However, current methods to generate a large spin Hall effect have limitations, occurring only within a narrow angle range. This study proposes a universal scheme to achieve a wide-angle giant photonic spin Hall effect by utilizing the interface between free space and uniaxial epsilon-near-zero media.