Kelvin's chirality of optical beams

Geometrical chirality is a property of objects that describes a three-dimensional mirror-symmetry violation and therefore it requires a nonvanishing spatial extent. In contrary, optical chirality describes only the local handedness of electromagnetic fields and neglects the spatial geometrical structure of optical beams. In this Letter we put forward the physical significance of geometrical chirality of spatial structure of optical beams, which we term Kelvin's chirality. Furthermore, we report on an experiment revealing the coupling of Kelvin's chirality to optical chirality upon transmission of a focused beam through a planar medium. Our work emphasizes the importance of Kelvin's chirality in all light-matter interaction experiments involving structured light beams with spatially inhomogeneous phase and polarization distributions.

Automated summary

Geometrical chirality describes the violation of three-dimensional mirror symmetry in objects with a nonvanishing spatial extent, while optical chirality only focuses on the local handedness of electromagnetic fields. This study introduces the physical significance of Kelvin's chirality in the spatial structure of optical beams and demonstrates its coupling to optical chirality in experiments involving structured light beams. The research highlights the importance of Kelvin's chirality in light-matter interactions with spatially inhomogeneous phase and polarization distributions.