Optical chirality exhibited by two axially propagating electromagnetic waves in counter-rotations

The optical chirality of two axially propagating electromagnetic waves is investigated. These two waves of different nature are in counter-rotations, thereby being non-plane waves. From the resulting spatial distributions of energy and chirality, we find not only enhancements but also cancellations due to the interferences in these hybrid waves. In addition, the roles of the axial wave number and interference phase are illustrated by introducing a proper figure of merit for relevant device performances.

本研究针对两束轴向传播的电磁波的光学手性(optical chirality)展开探究。这两束特性迥异的电磁波呈反向旋转状态，因此属于非平面波。通过分析由此得到的能量与手性空间分布，我们发现这类混合波的干涉效应不仅可实现信号增强，亦可引发信号抵消。此外，通过为相关器件性能引入恰当的品质因数(figure of merit)，我们阐明了轴向波数与干涉相位所起到的作用。