Mixing Skyrmions and Merons in Topological Quasicrystals of Evanescent Optical Field

TL;DR

This paper predicts the existence of mixed skyrmion and meron topological structures in evanescent optical fields, revealing quasiperiodic tilings with potential applications in optical technologies.

Contribution

It introduces the theoretical concept of mixed skyrmion-meron quasicrystals in optical fields with topological textures and quasiperiodic tilings.

Findings

Topological quasiperiodic tilings demonstrated in electric field and spin angular momentum.

Presence of N"eel-type skyrmions and merons in the quasicrystals.

Quasiperiodic arrangements similar to experimental nanoparticle patterns observed.

Abstract

Photonic skyrmion and meron lattices are structured light fields with topologically protected textures, analogous to magnetic skyrmions and merons. Here, we report the theoretical existence of mixed skyrmion and meron quasicrystals in an evanescent optical field. Topological quasiperiodic tilings of even and odd point group symmetries are demonstrated in both the electric field and spin angular momentum. These quasicrystals contain both skyrmions and merons of N\'eel-type topology. Interestingly, the quasiperiodic tilings are in agreement with the observations of quasiperiodic arrangements of carbon nanoparticles in water driven by ultrasound, and pave the way towards engineering hybrid topological states of light which may have potential applications in optical manipulation, metrology and information processing.