Abstract
Propagation of light in a medium is dictated by equifrequency surfaces (EFSs), which play a similar role as Fermi surfaces for electrons in crystals. Engineering the equifrequency surface of light through structuring a photonic medium enables superior control over light propagation that goes beyond natural materials. In this Letter, we show that a bulk metamaterial with a suitably designed bianisotropy can exhibit line degeneracy in its EFSs that consist of two ellipsoids of opposite helicity states intersecting with each other. Very interestingly, light propagating along the direction of the line degeneracy experiences strong spin-dependent photon deflection, or optical spin Hall effect, which may lead to applications in optical signal processing and spin-optical manipulations. We provide a realistic metamaterial design to show that the required bianisotropy can be readily obtained.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 067402 |
Journal | Physical Review Letters |
Volume | 115 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 7 Aug 2015 |