Observation of spatiotemporal optical vortices enabled by symmetry-breaking slanted nanograting

Observation of spatiotemporal optical vortices enabled by symmetry-breaking slanted nanograting

09 April 2024 | Pengcheng Huo, Wei Chen, Zixuan Zhang, Yanzhang Zhang, Mingze Liu, Peicheng Lin, Hui Zhang, Zhaoxian Chen, Henri Lezec, Wenqi Zhu, Amit Agrawal, Chao Peng, Yanqing Lu, Ting Xu
The paper presents a novel method for generating spatiotemporal optical vortices (STOVs) using a microscale singlet platform composed of a slanted nanograting. The authors leverage the intrinsic topological singularity induced by $C_2$ symmetry and z-mirror symmetry breaking in the nanograting to generate STOVs through the Fourier transform of the spiral phase in the momentum-frequency space to the spatiotemporal domain. Experimentally, they observe the spatiotemporal evolution of STOVs carried by femtosecond pulses using time-resolved interferometry and achieve a generation efficiency exceeding 40%. The method simplifies the setup and promotes the efficiency of STOV generation, paving the way for sophisticated control of ultrafast pulses using an integrated platform. The design and fabrication of the slanted nanograting, as well as the experimental setup and results, are detailed, demonstrating the feasibility and potential applications of this approach in light pulse shaping and spatiotemporal light manipulation.The paper presents a novel method for generating spatiotemporal optical vortices (STOVs) using a microscale singlet platform composed of a slanted nanograting. The authors leverage the intrinsic topological singularity induced by $C_2$ symmetry and z-mirror symmetry breaking in the nanograting to generate STOVs through the Fourier transform of the spiral phase in the momentum-frequency space to the spatiotemporal domain. Experimentally, they observe the spatiotemporal evolution of STOVs carried by femtosecond pulses using time-resolved interferometry and achieve a generation efficiency exceeding 40%. The method simplifies the setup and promotes the efficiency of STOV generation, paving the way for sophisticated control of ultrafast pulses using an integrated platform. The design and fabrication of the slanted nanograting, as well as the experimental setup and results, are detailed, demonstrating the feasibility and potential applications of this approach in light pulse shaping and spatiotemporal light manipulation.
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