Realizing Optical Persistent Spin Helix and Stern-Gerlach Deflection in an Anisotropic Liquid Crystal Microcavity

Area of Science:

• Quantum optics and spintronics
• Photonics and condensed matter physics

Background:

• Spin-orbit interactions are crucial for spintronics, coupling particle spin with momentum.
• Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings are significant in semiconductor physics.
• The persistent spin helix emerges when these couplings are equal, previously studied in semiconductor quantum wells.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a purely optical realization of spin patterns in a synthetic Rashba-Dresselhaus system.
• To investigate the persistent spin helix and Stern-Gerlach experiment analogs using cavity photons.
• To explore the role of Hamiltonian symmetry in photon spin dynamics within a microcavity.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a microcavity filled with optically anisotropic liquid crystal.
• Implementing a synthetic Rashba-Dresselhaus Hamiltonian to describe confined cavity photons.
• Analyzing the spatial oscillations of photon spin orientation within the cavity plane.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated optical spin patterns analogous to the persistent spin helix.
• Achieved an optical realization of the Stern-Gerlach experiment.
• Showed that the system's Hamiltonian symmetry leads to spatial oscillations in photon spin orientation.

Conclusions:

• This work provides a novel optical platform for studying spin-orbit coupling phenomena.
• The findings extend the concept of persistent spin helices and Stern-Gerlach-like behavior to photons.
• The study highlights the potential of microcavity systems for advanced spintronic and photonic applications.