Issue 2, 2023

Optical chirality of vortex beams at the nanoscale

Abstract

In this work we undertake a systematic study of the optical chirality density of Laguerre-Gaussian and Bessel laser beams tightly focused into nanoscale volumes. In particular we highlight the unique contributions to optical chirality from longitudinal electromagnetic fields, i.e. light that is polarised in the direction of propagation. The influence that polarisation, spin and orbital angular momentum, radial index, degree of focusing, and diffraction has on the optical chirality is studied. The results show that the optical chirality of structured light beams at the nanoscale is significantly richer than that of the well-known circularly polarised propagating plane wave. The work lays the foundation for chiral nanophotonics, and chiral quantum optics based on structured light illumination.

Graphical abstract: Optical chirality of vortex beams at the nanoscale

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 sep. 2022
Accepted
13 des. 2022
First published
13 des. 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale, 2023,15, 540-552

Optical chirality of vortex beams at the nanoscale

D. Green and K. A. Forbes, Nanoscale, 2023, 15, 540 DOI: 10.1039/D2NR05426D

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