Dynamics of Transverse Spin and Longitudinal Fields of Cylindrical Vector Beams in Optically Active Media
Abstract
Due to the inhomogeneous polarisation across the beam profile, cylindrical vector beams interact with optically active media in a complex manner. Here, we analyse evolution of polarisation of cylindrical vector beams propagating in an isotropic optically-active medium. After identifying polarisation normal modes of three-dimensional electromagnetic fields, we predict periodic inter-conversion between azimuthally- and radially-polarised modes of the beams accompanied by rotation of the transverse optical spin and pulsing field during the propagation. Theory and simulations are validated by experimental observations. The observed effects maybe important for imaging in biological chiral media, enhanced chiral sensing and enantioselective spectroscopy, nonlinear optics in chiral media, and generally enhanced spin-orbit coupling and nanoscale vector field engineering.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2604.07596,
title = {Dynamics of Transverse Spin and Longitudinal Fields of Cylindrical Vector Beams in Optically Active Media},
author = {Yuanyang Xie and Alexey Krasavin and Anatoly V. Zayats and Andrei Afanasev},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.07596},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
20 pages, 3 figures