Gauge Field Optics with Anisotropic Media

TL;DR

This paper introduces a gauge field framework in anisotropic media that enables novel optical phenomena like spin Hall effects, one-way edge states, and optical isolators, broadening the design possibilities for polarization-dependent photonic devices.

Contribution

It presents a novel gauge field approach linking anisotropic media to magnetic effects, enabling broadband optical phenomena and device designs without magnetic materials.

Findings

Optical spin Hall effect achieved with broadband anisotropic media.

One-way edge states enabled by gauge field manipulation.

Design of optical isolators mimicking Aharonov-Bohm effect.

Abstract

By considering gauge transformations on the macroscopic Maxwell's equations, a two dimensional gauge field, with its pseudo magnetic field in the real space, is identified as tilted anisotropy in the constitutive parameters. We show that optical spin Hall effect and one-way edge states become possible simply by using anisotropic media with broadband response. The proposed gauge field also allows us to design an optical isolator based on the Aharonov-Bohm effect. Our approach will be useful in spoof magneto-optics with arbitrary magnetic fields mimicked by metamaterials with subwavelength unit cells. It also serves as a generic way to design polarization-dependent devices.