Researchers generate optical skyrmions

Phys.org  July 27, 2018 An international team of researchers (Israel, Albania) generated skyrmions using the electrical field of electromagnetic waves. They demonstrated that in contrast to “regular” light waves, whose electrical fields usually point along a specific direction an electric field can take on a “skyrmion” shape and simultaneously face in all directions and they are robust against various defects in the material hosting the electromagnetic waves. The discovery could enable future replication of this effect in a wide range of systems and materials, including liquids, nanoparticle systems and even cold atomic gasses. It might also lay the ground for […]