Optical M0bius Strips in Three Dimensional Ellipse Fields: Lines of Linear Polarization

TL;DR

This paper explores the complex topological structures, including Möbius strips and rippled rings, formed by polarization ellipses in three-dimensional optical fields, and presents a framework for their characterization and potential experimental observation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel topological classification of polarization structures in 3D optical fields using indices and describes their statistical occurrence and experimental feasibility.

Findings

Identification of Möbius strips with two full twists in polarization fields

Reduction of possible structures from 839,808 to 8,248 lines using selection rules

Observation of over 5,500 structures in computer simulations

Abstract

The minor axes of, and the normals to, the polarization ellipses that surround singular lines of linear polarization in three dimensional optical ellipse fields are shown to be organized into Mobius strips and into structures we call rippled rings (r-rings). The Mobius strips have two full twists, and can be either right- or left-handed. The major axes of the surrounding ellipses generate cone-like structures. Three orthogonal projections that give rise to 15 indices are used to characterize the different structures. These indices, if independent, could generate 839,808 geometrically and topologically distinct lines; selection rules are presented that reduce the number of lines to 8,248, some 5,562 of which have been observed in a computer simulation. Statistical probabilities are presented for the most important index combinations in random fields. It is argued that it is presently feasible to perform experimental measurements of the Mobius strips, r-rings, and cones described here theoretically.