Optomechanical separation of transverse spin and orbital energy flows in liquid crystals

Mur, Urban (avtor), Čančula, Miha (avtor), Kobayashi, Hirokazu (avtor), Ravnik, Miha (avtor), Žumer, Slobodan (avtor), Brasselet, Etienne (avtor)

We report a nondissipative optomechanical approach to separate the spin and orbital components of transverse energy flows of light beams. Focusing on uniformly polarized paraxial fields, the method relies on detecting the radiation-pressure-induced reorientation of the optical axis in anisotropic media—specifically, liquid crystals. Within a perturbative analytical approach, we demonstrate the selective encoding of the transverse spin and orbital components of the Poynting vector into orthogonal orientational elastic modes, whose relative weights are mediated by the Gouy phase. The spatial distributions of spin and orbital momentum can therefore be retrieved without resorting to point-by-point measurements using absorbing or scattering probe particles. Analytical results are supported by a fully self-consistent numerical solution coupling Maxwell’s equations and Landau-de Gennes nematodynamics in three dimensions. This exact framework captures higher-order and nonparaxial effects beyond the analytical perturbative regime and allows us to validate the predicted Gouy-phase-mediated optomechanical response. These results establish a practical route toward optomechanical imaging of the internal momentum structure of light, fostering momentum-resolved optical metrology and light-matter interaction studies with structured beams.

• Jezik: Angleški jezik
• Ključne besede: liquid crystals, optomechanics, polarization of light
• Vrsta gradiva: Članek v reviji
• Tipologija: 1.01 - Izvirni znanstveni članek
• Organizacija: FMF - Fakulteta za matematiko in fiziko
• Status publikacije: Objavljeno
• Različica publikacije: Objavljena publikacija
• Leto izida: 2026
• Št. strani: Str. 013235-1-013235-8
• Številčenje: Vol. 8, iss. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-180308
• UDK: 538.9:535
• ISSN pri članku: 2643-1564
• DOI: 10.1103/59st-f1mb
• COBISS.SI-ID: 270647043
• Datum objave v RUL: 05.03.2026

Gradivo je del revije

• Naslov: Physical review research
• Založnik: American Phyisical Society
• ISSN: 2643-1564
• COBISS.SI-ID: 32822823

Licence

• Licenca: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Priznanje avtorstva 4.0 Mednarodna
• Povezava: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.sl
• Opis: To je standardna licenca Creative Commons, ki daje uporabnikom največ možnosti za nadaljnjo uporabo dela, pri čemer morajo navesti avtorja.

Sekundarni jezik

• Jezik: Slovenski jezik
• Ključne besede: tekoči kristali, optomehanika, polarizacija svetlobe