Realization of tunable spin-dependent splitting in intrinsic photonic spin Hall effect

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a tunable intrinsic photonic spin Hall effect by breaking rotational symmetry in vector beams, enabling control over spin-dependent splitting and spin accumulation, with potential applications in spin-photonics.

Contribution

It introduces a method to achieve tunable spin-dependent splitting in the intrinsic photonic spin Hall effect through symmetry breaking and topological charge modulation.

Findings

Spin accumulation occurs at the beam edges due to symmetry breaking.

Modulating topological charge enhances and switches spin splitting.

The effect is intrinsic and independent of light-matter interaction.

Abstract

We report the realization of tunable spin-dependent splitting in intrinsic photonic spin Hall effect. By breaking the rotational symmetry of a cylindrical vector beam, the intrinsic vortex phases that the two spin components of the vector beam carries, which is similar to the geometric Pancharatnam-Berry phase, is no longer continuous in the azimuthal direction, and leads to observation of spin accumulation at the opposite edge of the beam. Due to the inherent nature of the phase and independency of light-matter interaction, the observed photonic spin Hall effect is intrinsic. Modulating the topological charge of the vector beam, the spin-dependent splitting can be enhanced and the direction of spin accumulation is switchable. Our findings may provide a possible route for generation and manipulation of spin-polarized photons, and enables spin-based photonics applications.