Photonic Spin Hall Effect in Waveguides Composed of Two Types of Single-Negative Metamaterials

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the photonic spin Hall effect in waveguides made of two types of single-negative metamaterials, enabling polarization-controlled signal routing with robustness against interface fluctuations.

Contribution

It experimentally shows selective excitation of guided modes based on polarization in single-negative metamaterial waveguides, revealing a robust spin-orbit locking phenomenon.

Findings

Selective mode excitation depends on polarization handedness.

The spin Hall effect is robust against interface fluctuations.

Potential applications in polarization beam splitters.

Abstract

The polarization controlled optical signal routing has many important applications in photonics such as polarization beam splitter. By using two-dimensional transmission lines with lumped elements, we experimentally demonstrate the selective excitation of guided modes in waveguides composed of two kinds of single-negative metamaterials. A localized, circularly polarized emitter placed near the interface of the two kinds of single-negative metamaterials only couples with one guided mode with a specific propagating direction determined by the polarization handedness of the source. Moreover, this optical spin-orbit locking phenomenon, also called the photonic spin Hall effect, is robust against interface fluctuations, which may be very useful in the manipulation of electromagnetic signals.