Observation of Brillouin Spin-Orbit Interaction in a Silica Optical Nanofiber

International audienceSpin-orbit interaction (SOI), whereby spin and orbital features of a particle or a wave affect each other, is a ubiquitous phenomenon in many branches of physics, including among others, optics and acoustics [1]. In optics, it has long been known that light carries both orbital angular momentum (OAM) and spin angular momentum (SAM), related to wavefront rotation and circular polarization, respectively, and that they can become coupled by SOI while conserving the overall angular momentum [1]. In acoustics, SOI has been recently reported using elastic spin and angular momenta of transverse acoustic beams [2]