Giant spin splitting induced by orbital angular momentum in an epsilon-near-zero metamaterial slab

An orbital angular momentum (OAM)-induced spin splitting is theoretically predicted when a higher-order Laguerre Gaussian beam is transmitted through a metamaterial slab. The upper bound of this spin splitting is found to be |l| w(0)/ (|l| + 1),(1/2) where l and w(0) are the incident OAM and beam waist, respectively. By optimizing the structure parameter of the metamaterial, as well as the incident angle, the OAM-induced spin splitting can reach more than 0.99 of the upper bound in the cases of both the horizontal and vertical incident polarization states, and the transmitted light fields turn out to be full Poincare beams. These findings provide a deeper insight into the spin-orbit interaction, and, thereby, facilitate the development of spin-based applications. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America