Observation of spatiotemporal optical vortices enabled by symmetry-breaking slanted nanograting

Pengcheng Huo; Wei Chen; Zixuan Zhang; Yanzeng Zhang; Mingze Liu; Peicheng Lin; Hui Zhang; Zhaoxian Chen; Henri Lezec; Wenqi Zhu; Amit Agrawal; Chao Peng; Yanqing Lu; Ting Xu

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-47475-2

Nature Communications (Apr 2024)

Observation of spatiotemporal optical vortices enabled by symmetry-breaking slanted nanograting

Pengcheng Huo,
Wei Chen,
Zixuan Zhang,
Yanzeng Zhang,
Mingze Liu,
Peicheng Lin,
Hui Zhang,
Zhaoxian Chen,
Henri Lezec,
Wenqi Zhu,
Amit Agrawal,
Chao Peng,
Yanqing Lu,
Ting Xu

Affiliations

Pengcheng Huo: National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University
Wei Chen: National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University
Zixuan Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks, School of Electronics, Frontiers Science Center for Nano-optoelectronics, Peking University
Yanzeng Zhang: National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University
Mingze Liu: National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University
Peicheng Lin: National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University
Hui Zhang: National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University
Zhaoxian Chen: National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University
Henri Lezec: National Institute of Standards and Technology
Wenqi Zhu: National Institute of Standards and Technology
Amit Agrawal: National Institute of Standards and Technology
Chao Peng: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks, School of Electronics, Frontiers Science Center for Nano-optoelectronics, Peking University
Yanqing Lu: National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University
Ting Xu: National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47475-2
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 15, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Abstract Providing additional degrees of freedom to manipulate light, spatiotemporal optical vortex (STOV) beams carrying transverse orbital angular momentum are of fundamental importance for spatiotemporal control of light-matter interactions. Unfortunately, existing methods to generate STOV are plagued by various limitations such as inefficiency, bulkiness, and complexity. Here, we theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate a microscale singlet platform composed of a slanted nanograting to generate STOV. Leveraging the intrinsic topological singularity induced by C 2 symmetry and z-mirror symmetry breaking of the slanted nanograting, STOV is generated through the Fourier transform of the spiral phase in the momentum-frequency space to the spatiotemporal domain. In experiments, we observe the space-time evolution of STOV carried by femtosecond pulses using a time-resolved interferometry technique and achieve a generation efficiency exceeding 40%. Our work sheds light on a compact and versatile platform for light pulse shaping, and paves the way towards a fully integrated system for spatiotemporal light manipulation.

Published in Nature Communications

ISSN: 2041-1723 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

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