More than just a name? From magnetic to optical skyrmions and the topology of light

Jian Chen; Andrew Forbes; Cheng-Wei Qiu

doi:10.1038/s41377-024-01708-7

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More than just a name? From magnetic to optical skyrmions and the topology of light

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- More than just a name? From magnetic to optical skyrmions and the topology of light
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 14, Issue 1, Pages: 26-29(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
  2.Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117583, Singapore
  3.School of Physics, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Author bio：
  
  Andrew Forbes (andrew.forbes@wits.ac.za)
  Cheng-Wei Qiu (chengwei.qiu@nus.edu.sg)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-024-01708-7
  CLC：
- Published：31 January 2025，
  
  Published Online：03 January 2025，
- Accepted：
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Chen, J., Forbes, A. & Qiu, C. W. More than just a name? From magnetic to optical skyrmions and the topology of light. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 26-29 (2025).
DOI：

Chen, J., Forbes, A. & Qiu, C. W. More than just a name? From magnetic to optical skyrmions and the topology of light. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 26-29 (2025). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-024-01708-7.

摘要

Abstract

Topology is usually perceived intrinsically immutable for a given object. We argue that optical topologies do not immediately enjoy such benefits. Using 'optical skyrmions' as an example

we show that they will exhibit varying textures and topological invariants (skyrmion numbers)

depending on how to construct the skyrmion vector when projecting from real to parameter space. We demonstrate the fragility of optical skyrmions under a ubiquitous scenario--simple reflection off an optical mirror. Optical topology is not without benefit

but it must not be assumed.

关键词

Keywords

references

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