Nanotechnology Now

Our NanoNews Digest Sponsors
Heifer International



Home > Press > Berkeley Lab Researchers Use Metamaterials to Observe Giant Photonic Spin Hall Effect

Light propagating through a metamaterial follows a curved trajectory that drags light with different circular polarization in opposite transverse directions to produce a giant photonic Spin Hall effect.
Light propagating through a metamaterial follows a curved trajectory that drags light with different circular polarization in opposite transverse directions to produce a giant photonic Spin Hall effect.

Abstract:
Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have once again demonstrated the incredible capabilities of metamaterials - artificial nanoconstructs whose optical properties arise from their physical structure rather than their chemical composition. Engineering a unique two-dimensional sheet of gold nanoantennas, the researchers were able to obtain the strongest signal yet of the photonic spin Hall effect, an optical phenomenon of quantum mechanics that could play a prominent role in the future of computing.

Berkeley Lab Researchers Use Metamaterials to Observe Giant Photonic Spin Hall Effect

Berkeley, CA | Posted on March 21st, 2013

"With metamaterial, we were able to greatly enhance a naturally weak effect to the point where it was directly observable with simple detection techniques," said Xiang Zhang, a faculty scientist with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division who led this research. "We also demonstrated that metamaterials not only allow us to control the propagation of light but also allows control of circular polarization. This could have profound consequences for information encoding and processing."

Zhang is the corresponding author of a paper describing this work in the journal Science. The paper is titled "Photonic Spin Hall Effect at Metasurfaces." Co-authors are Xiaobo Yin, Ziliang Ye, Jun Sun Rho and Yuan Wang.

The spin Hall effect, named in honor of physicist Edwin Hall, describes the curved path that spinning electrons follow as they move through a semiconductor. The curved movement arises from the interaction between the physical motion of the electron and its spin - a quantized angular momentum that gives rise to magnetic moment. Think of a baseball pitcher putting spin on a ball to make it curve to the left or right.

"Light moving through a metal also displays the spin Hall effect but the photonic spin Hall effect is very weak because the spin angular momentum of photons and spin-orbit interactions are very small," says Xiaobo Yin, a member of Zhang's research group and the lead author of the Science paper. "In the past, people have managed to observe the photonic spin Hall effect by generating the process over and over again to obtain an accumulative signal, or by using highly sophisticated quantum measurements. Our metamaterial makes the photonic spin Hall effect observable even with a simple camera."

Metamaterials have garnered a lot of attention in recent years because their unique structure affords electromagnetic properties unattainable in nature. For example, a metamaterial can have a negative index of refraction, the ability to bend light backwards, unlike all materials found in nature, which bend light forward. Zhang, who holds the Ernest S. Kuh Endowed Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California (UC) Berkeley, where he also directs the National Science Foundation's Nano-scale Science and Engineering Center, has been at the forefront of metamaterials research. For this study, he and his group fashioned metamaterial surfaces about 30 nanometers thick (a human hair by comparison is between 50,000 and 100,000 nanometers thick). These metasurfaces were constructed from V-shaped gold nanoantennas whose geometry could be configured by adjusting the length and orientation of the arms of the Vs.

"We chose eight different antenna configurations with optimized geometry parameters to generate a linear phase gradient along the x direction," says Yin. "This enabled us to control the propagation of the light and introduce strong photon spin-orbit interactions through rapid changes in direction. The photonic spin Hall effect depends on the curvature of the light's trajectory, so the sharper the change in propagation direction, the stronger the effect."

Since the entire metasurface sample measured only 0.3 millimeters, a 50-millimeter lens was used to project the transmission of the light through the metamaterial onto a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera for imaging. From the CCD images, the researchers determined that both the control of light propagation and the giant photonic spin Hall effect were the direct results of the designed meta-material. This finding opens up a wealth of possibilities for new technologies.

"The controllable spin-orbit interaction and momentum transfer between spin and orbital angular momentum allows us to manipulate the information encoded on the polarization of light, much like the 0 and 1 of today's electronic devices," Yin says. "But photonic devices could encode more information and provide greater information security than conventional electronic devices."

Yin says the ability to control left and right circular polarization of light in metamaterial surfaces should allow for the formation of optical elements, like highly coveted "flat lenses," or the management of light polarization without using wave plates.

"Metamaterials provide us with tremendous design freedom that will allow us to modulate the strength of the photonic spin Hall effect at different spatial locations," Yin says. "We knew the photonic spin Hall effect existed in nature but it was so hard to detect. Now, with the right metamaterials we can not only enhance this effect we can harness it for our own purposes."

This research was supported by the DOE Office of Science.

####

About Berkeley Lab
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world’s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab’s scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit the Office of Science website at science.energy.gov/.

For more information, please click here

Contacts:
Lynn Yarris
(510) 486-5375

Copyright © Berkeley Lab

If you have a comment, please Contact us.

Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

Bookmark:
Delicious Digg Newsvine Google Yahoo Reddit Magnoliacom Furl Facebook

Related Links

For more information about the research of Xiang Zhang go here:

Related News Press

News and information

INRS and ELI deepen strategic partnership to train the next generation in laser science:PhD students will benefit from international mobility and privileged access to cutting-edge infrastructure June 6th, 2025

Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025

Quantum computers simulate fundamental physics: shedding light on the building blocks of nature June 6th, 2025

A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025

Laboratories

Giving batteries a longer life with the Advanced Photon Source: New research uncovers a hydrogen-centered mechanism that triggers degradation in the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles September 13th, 2024

A 2D device for quantum cooling:EPFL engineers have created a device that can efficiently convert heat into electrical voltage at temperatures lower than that of outer space. The innovation could help overcome a significant obstacle to the advancement of quantum computing technol July 5th, 2024

A battery’s hopping ions remember where they’ve been: Seen in atomic detail, the seemingly smooth flow of ions through a battery’s electrolyte is surprisingly complicated February 16th, 2024

NRL discovers two-dimensional waveguides February 16th, 2024

Govt.-Legislation/Regulation/Funding/Policy

INRS and ELI deepen strategic partnership to train the next generation in laser science:PhD students will benefit from international mobility and privileged access to cutting-edge infrastructure June 6th, 2025

Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025

Institute for Nanoscience hosts annual proposal planning meeting May 16th, 2025

Rice researchers harness gravity to create low-cost device for rapid cell analysis February 28th, 2025

Spintronics

An earth-abundant mineral for sustainable spintronics: Iron-rich hematite, commonly found in rocks and soil, turns out to have magnetic properties that make it a promising material for ultrafast next-generation computing April 25th, 2025

‘Brand new physics’ for next generation spintronics: Physicists discover a unique quantum behavior that offers a new way to manipulate electron-spin and magnetization to push forward cutting-edge spintronic technologies, like computing that mimics the human brain January 17th, 2025

Researchers discover a potential application of unwanted electronic noise in semiconductors: Random telegraph noises in vanadium-doped tungsten diselenide can be tuned with voltage polarity August 11th, 2023

Quantum materials: Electron spin measured for the first time June 9th, 2023

Quantum Computing

Quantum computers simulate fundamental physics: shedding light on the building blocks of nature June 6th, 2025

Magnetism in new exotic material opens the way for robust quantum computers June 4th, 2025

A new study provides insights into cleaning up noise in quantum entanglement:When it comes to purifying quantum entanglement, new theoretical work highlights the importance of tailoring noise-minimizing solutions to specific quantum systems May 16th, 2025

Programmable electron-induced color router array May 14th, 2025

Discoveries

Researchers unveil a groundbreaking clay-based solution to capture carbon dioxide and combat climate change June 6th, 2025

Cambridge chemists discover simple way to build bigger molecules – one carbon at a time June 6th, 2025

Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025

A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025

Announcements

INRS and ELI deepen strategic partnership to train the next generation in laser science:PhD students will benefit from international mobility and privileged access to cutting-edge infrastructure June 6th, 2025

Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025

Quantum computers simulate fundamental physics: shedding light on the building blocks of nature June 6th, 2025

A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025

Photonics/Optics/Lasers

INRS and ELI deepen strategic partnership to train the next generation in laser science:PhD students will benefit from international mobility and privileged access to cutting-edge infrastructure June 6th, 2025

Institute for Nanoscience hosts annual proposal planning meeting May 16th, 2025

Following the folds – with quantum technology: The connection between a crumpled sheet of paper and quantum technology: A research team at the EPFL in Lausanne (Switzerland) and the University of Konstanz (Germany) uses topology in microwave photonics to make improved systems of May 16th, 2025

Programmable electron-induced color router array May 14th, 2025

Quantum nanoscience

A new study provides insights into cleaning up noise in quantum entanglement:When it comes to purifying quantum entanglement, new theoretical work highlights the importance of tailoring noise-minimizing solutions to specific quantum systems May 16th, 2025

Superconductors: Amazingly orderly disorder: A surprising effect was discovered through a collaborative effort by researchers from TU Wien and institutions in Croatia, France, Poland, Singapore, Switzerland, and the US during the investigation of a special material: the atoms are May 14th, 2025

Programmable electron-induced color router array May 14th, 2025

Unraveling the origin of extremely bright quantum emitters: Researchers from Osaka University have discovered the fundamental properties of single-photon emitters at an oxide/semiconductor interface, which could be crucial for scalable quantum technology February 28th, 2025

NanoNews-Digest
The latest news from around the world, FREE




  Premium Products
NanoNews-Custom
Only the news you want to read!
 Learn More
NanoStrategies
Full-service, expert consulting
 Learn More











ASP
Nanotechnology Now Featured Books




NNN

The Hunger Project