Absorber of topologically structured light

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Polarization- and wavelength-sensitive absorbers are vital for technologies like photovoltaics, imaging, and telecommunications.
• Existing absorbers often struggle with homogeneous electromagnetic waves, limiting their application scope.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an absorber specifically selective to the topological structure of light.
• To demonstrate efficient dissipation of light with polarization singularities while rejecting plane waves.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a conical mirror to convert incident beams into a standing wave based on geometrical Pancharatnam-Berry phase.
• Integrating a "nanowire" absorber along the cone's axis to interact with the standing wave.

Main Results:

• The absorber effectively dissipates light containing polarization singularities.
• Plane waves are rejected irrespective of their polarization state.
• Nearly perfect energy dissipation is achieved for singularly-polarized light, independent of wavelength.

Conclusions:

• The developed absorber demonstrates selective dissipation of topologically structured light.
• This technology has significant potential for applications in energy harvesting, optical detection, filtering, and telecommunications.