Spin orbit interaction of light in a quartz crystal

Abstract

ii newlineABSTRACT newlineAn interesting aspect of light-matter interaction involves the spin-orbit interaction newline(SOI) of light, where the spin angular momentum of light gets coupled with the spatial newlinedegrees of freedom. This is exemplified in two situations: when a weakly diverging newline(converging) cylindrically symmetric light beam passes through an anisotropic medium, newlinethe SOI results in spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion (SOC), which results newlinein spin-dependent generation of optical vortex beam. If the cylindrical symmetry of the newlinebeam field is broken, the interaction leads to the spin-Hall effect of light (SHEL), which newlinemanifests as a transverse (to the plane of incidence) spin-dependent beam shift. Deviation newlinefrom the cylindrical symmetry of the beam field can arise due to several factors, newlineincluding the oblique angle of incidence, tilting or rotating the anisotropic material, or newlinethe material s properties, such as chirality. It is worth noting that the SOC can also be newlineinterpreted as the azimuthal SHEL. newlineThis thesis explores the fundamental aspects of the interaction between a spatially newlineinhomogeneously polarized beam of light and an anisotropic medium in the context newlineof the SOI of light. It began with the observation of SHEL in a tilted quartz crystal newlinehalf-wave plate (HWP) due to the presence of circular birefringence of much smaller newline(10and#8722;5) magnitude than the widely recognized linear birefringence. This led to a detailed newlineinvestigation of the SOI aspects in the tilted-rotated quartz crystal plate as a function newlineof the angle of incidence, optic-axis orientation and their dependence on the wavelength newlineof incident light. The tilting and rotating of the quartz crystal plate introduces newlinethe simultaneous appearance of both linear and circular birefringence, leading us to newlinerefer to the total effect due to the twisted elliptically birefringent crystal plate. Our investigation newlinethen involves analyzing the properties of the output light beam by placing newlinethe quartz crystal in a polarisation interferometer. In this context, our study reveals newlinetopo