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Updated: Jan 10, 2026

Experimental Methods for Spin- and Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy Combined with Polarization-Variable Laser
Published on: June 28, 2018
Kretschmann-geometry enhancement of a photonic spin Hall effect with an AlCuFe Dirac semimetal
Qi Fang1,2, Ruidong Zhang3, Wenyang Ma2
1Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center on Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210044, China.
Abstract:
We numerically demonstrate a giant and reconfigurable photonic spin Hall effect (PSHE) in a lithography-free Kretschmann stack composed of a high-index prism/AlCuFe Dirac semimetal (DSM)/VO2/ZnS. By tuning the ZnS coupler thickness to phase-match the input beam with a leaky interfacial mode of the thin DSM film, the p-polarized Fresnel coefficient develops a deep resonance while the s-channel remains finite. Under the near-dark-port conditions, the ratio between the magnitudes of the Fresnel reflection coefficients for the two orthogonal polarizations drives |rs|/|rp| (or |rp|/|rs|) as large as 103-104, producing an extremely steep reflection phase and hence macroscopic spin-dependent lateral shifts. With only 50-300 nm of AlCuFe, the peak transverse displacement |δ+| reaches 102 μm within narrow angular windows, while off-resonant shifts collapse toward zero. The intermediate VO2 spacer provides powerful reconfigurability: switching between insulating and metallic phases (and varying its thickness) translates and reshapes the resonance, enabling sign-programmable and angle-tunable PSHE. These results establish a compact, wafer-compatible route to giant spin-orbit photonics - suited for spin-selective beam steering, chiral sensing, and weak-value-style metrology - using only planar films and phase-change control, without nanofabricated structures.

