Brownian spin-locking effect

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a large-scale spin-locking effect of light in a Brownian medium, caused by spin-orbit interactions during scattering, with implications for studying spin behaviors and nanoparticle properties.

Contribution

It introduces the observation of spin-locking in Brownian systems due to intrinsic spin-orbit interactions, providing a new platform for exploring light's spin dynamics in disordered media.

Findings

Observation of spin-locking effect in Brownian medium

Identification of spin-orbit interactions causing the effect

Potential for applications in nanoparticle property measurement

Abstract

Brownian systems are characterized by spatiotemporal disorder, which arises from the erratic motion of particles driven by thermal fluctuations. When light interacts with such systems, it typically produces unpolarized and uncorrelated fields. Here, we report the observation of a large-scale spin-locking effect of light within a Brownian medium. In an observation direction perpendicular to the incident wave momentum, scattering naturally divides into two diffusion regions, each associated with an opposite spin from the Brownian nanoparticles. This effect arises from the intrinsic spin-orbit interactions of scattering from individual nanoparticles, which ubiquitously generate radiative spin fields that propagate through the Brownian medium with multiple incoherent scattering. It offers a novel experimental platform for exploring macroscale spin behaviors of diffused light, with potential applications in precision metrology for measuring various nanoparticle properties. Our findings may inspire the study of analogous phenomena for different waves from novel spin-orbit interactions in complex disordered systems.