Observation of toroidal pulses of light
Observation of toroidal pulses of light
Transverse electromagnetic waves are important carriers of information and energy. In 1996, Hellwarth and Nouchi theoretically identified a radically different, non-transverse type of electromagnetic pulse with a toroidal topology. These pulses, which are propagating counterparts of localized toroidal dipole excitations in matter, exhibit unique electromagnetic wave properties and, so far, have never been experimentally realized and observed. Here we report the generation of such toroidal light pulses in the optical and terahertz regions by the use of tailored nanostructured meta-surfaces. This achievement paves the way for experimental studies of energy and information transfer with toroidal light pulses, their space–time coupling and their light–matter interactions involving anapoles, localized space–time coupled excitations, skyrmions and toroidal qubits, which are of growing interest for the fundamental science of light and applications.
523–528
Zdagkas, Apostolos
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Shen, Yijie
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Papasimakis, Nikitas
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Zheludev, Nikolai
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McDonnell, C.
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Deng, J.
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Li, G.
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Ellenbogen, T.
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1 July 2022
Zdagkas, Apostolos
af3bc86e-b049-4ea1-b7bb-44e2ee0a4441
Shen, Yijie
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Papasimakis, Nikitas
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Zheludev, Nikolai
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McDonnell, C.
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Deng, J.
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Li, G.
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Ellenbogen, T.
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Zdagkas, Apostolos, Shen, Yijie, Papasimakis, Nikitas, Zheludev, Nikolai, McDonnell, C., Deng, J., Li, G. and Ellenbogen, T.
(2022)
Observation of toroidal pulses of light.
Nature Photonics, 16 (7), .
(doi:10.1038/s41566-022-01028-5).
Abstract
Transverse electromagnetic waves are important carriers of information and energy. In 1996, Hellwarth and Nouchi theoretically identified a radically different, non-transverse type of electromagnetic pulse with a toroidal topology. These pulses, which are propagating counterparts of localized toroidal dipole excitations in matter, exhibit unique electromagnetic wave properties and, so far, have never been experimentally realized and observed. Here we report the generation of such toroidal light pulses in the optical and terahertz regions by the use of tailored nanostructured meta-surfaces. This achievement paves the way for experimental studies of energy and information transfer with toroidal light pulses, their space–time coupling and their light–matter interactions involving anapoles, localized space–time coupled excitations, skyrmions and toroidal qubits, which are of growing interest for the fundamental science of light and applications.
Text
2102.03636
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 25 May 2022
Published date: 1 July 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
We are grateful to S. Pidishety for experimental assistance. This work was supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (grant no. EP/ M009122/1), MOE Singapore (grant no. MOE2016-T3- 1-006), the European Research Council (Advanced grant FLEET-786851, funder ID https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000781 ) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under the Nascent Light Matter Interactions programme. T.E. acknowledges funding for this research from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 715362). G.L. and T.E. acknowledge support from an NSFC-ISF joint grant (grant no. 12161141010; 3450/21). G.L. is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91950114 and 11774145), Guangdong Provincial Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project (2017ZT07C071) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shenzhen Innovation Commission (grant no. JCYJ20200109140808088).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 469178
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/469178
ISSN: 1749-4885
PURE UUID: 0047fad5-3b90-4a66-80ad-c4fa40d75568
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Date deposited: 08 Sep 2022 17:07
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 07:27
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Contributors
Author:
Apostolos Zdagkas
Author:
Yijie Shen
Author:
C. McDonnell
Author:
J. Deng
Author:
G. Li
Author:
T. Ellenbogen
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