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  • Review Article
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Spin–orbit interactions of light

Nature Photonics volume 9, pages 796–808 (2015)Cite this article

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An Erratum to this article was published on 01 February 2017

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Abstract

Light carries both spin and orbital angular momentum. These dynamical properties are determined by the polarization and spatial degrees of freedom of light. Nano-optics, photonics and plasmonics tend to explore subwavelength scales and additional degrees of freedom of structured — that is, spatially inhomogeneous — optical fields. In such fields, spin and orbital properties become strongly coupled with each other. In this Review we cover the fundamental origins and important applications of the main spin–orbit interaction phenomena in optics. These include: spin-Hall effects in inhomogeneous media and at optical interfaces, spin-dependent effects in nonparaxial (focused or scattered) fields, spin-controlled shaping of light using anisotropic structured interfaces (metasurfaces) and robust spin-directional coupling via evanescent near fields. We show that spin–orbit interactions are inherent in all basic optical processes, and that they play a crucial role in modern optics.

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Figure 1: Spin-Hall effects for paraxial beams in inhomogeneous media.
Figure 2: SOI in nonparaxial light.
Figure 3: SOI induced by planar anisotropic and inhomogeneous structures.
Figure 4: Transverse spin in evanescent waves and spin-directional interfaces.

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  • 16 December 2016

    In the version of this Review Article originally published, the DOI in the header of the PDF was incorrect; it should have read 'DOI: 10.1038/NPHOTON.2015.201'. This has now been corrected in the online PDF; the HTML version was unaffected.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the RIKEN iTHES Project, MURI Center for Dynamic Magneto-Optics (AFOSR grant no. FA9550-14-1-0040), JSPS-RFBR (contract no. 12-02-92100), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), the Australian Research Council, EPSRC (UK), and the ERC iPLASMM project (321268). A.V.Z. acknowledges support from the Royal Society and the Wolfson Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Emergent Matter Science, RIKEN, Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan

    K. Y. Bliokh & F. Nori

  2. Nonlinear Physics Centre, RSPhysE, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    K. Y. Bliokh

  3. Department of Physics, King's College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK

    F. J. Rodríguez-Fortuño & A. V. Zayats

  4. Physics Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109-1040, Michigan, USA

    F. Nori

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  1. K. Y. Bliokh
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Contributions

K.Y.B. wrote the major part of the text, with the input from F.J.R.F., F.N., and A.V.Z. F.J.R.F. created most of the figures with the input from K.Y.B. F.N. and A.V.Z. helped with the writing and contributed to discussions.

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Correspondence to K. Y. Bliokh.

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Bliokh, K., Rodríguez-Fortuño, F., Nori, F. et al. Spin–orbit interactions of light. Nature Photon 9, 796–808 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2015.201

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