Spin-Hall Effect of Cylindrical Vector Vortex Beams

Abstract

Spin-Hall effect (SHE) of light is one of the main manifestations of the spin-orbit interaction of photons, and has been extensively studied for optical beams with homogeneous polarization. Here, we present a theoretical study of the SHE of cylindrical vector vortex beams (CVVBs) possessing inhomogeneous polarization. We derive the analytical expressions of the SHE of CVVBs reflected and refracted at a dielectric interface with radial and azimuthal polarization of incidence. The spin-dependent shifts of the SHE of light linearly depend on the topological charge of the CVVBs. In contrast to the conventional SHE of horizontally or vertically polarized beams, the SHE shifts of the CVVBs are asymmetrical when the topological charge is nonzero. This asymmetry results in the transverse Imbert–Fedorov (IF) shifts that are proportional to the topological charge. Furthermore, based on weak measurement, we propose an experimental scheme to enhance the SHE and related IF shifts with proper pre- and post-selection polarization states. Our results advance the study of the SHE of structured light and may find applications in SHE-based techniques such as precision measurement.

Keywords

• Spin-Hall effect of light
• cylindrical vector vortex beams
• Imbert–Fedorov shift
• weak measurement