Plenary/Plenary Session

1.King's College London

Photonic spin-orbit coupling describes how spin angular momentum of light, associated with circular polarisation of an electromagnetic wave, is coupled to orbital angular momentum of light (associated with the energy flow and propagation direction). Being strongly enhanced in a nanostructured environment, this effect provides interesting applications in polarisation-enabled control of optical signals, or in reverse, controlling light polarisation, sensing applications and quantum optical processes. The spin-orbit coupling involving waveguided modes results in the so-called photonic spin-Hall effect, in analogy to spin-Hall effect for electrons. In this talk we will overview the effects associated with the photon spin when circularly polarised light interacts with plasmonic nanostructures and metamaterials. Spin-dependent directional excitation of guided modes, spin-orbit coupling in surface plasmon scattering associated with the unusual, transverse spin of surface polaritons, and spin-dependent optical forces will be discussed. Nonlinear optical effects controlled by spin of interacting photons will be reviewed. Photonic spin-orbit interactions provide an important tool for harvesting new functionalities and applications of circularly polarised light in numerous photonic and quantum technologies, and metrology.