Acceleration toward polarization singularity inspired by relativistic E×B drift

Abstract

The relativistic trajectory of a charged particle driven by the Lorentz force is different from the classical one, by velocity-dependent relativistic acceleration term. Here we show that the evolution of optical polarization states near the polarization singularity can be described in analogy to the relativistic dynamics of charged particles. A phase transition in parity-time symmetric potentials is then interpreted in terms of the competition between electric and magnetic ‘pseudo’-fields applied to polarization states. Based on this Lorentz pseudo-force representation, we reveal that zero Lorentz pseudo-force is the origin of recently reported strong polarization convergence to the singular state at the exceptional point. We also demonstrate the deterministic design of achiral and directional eigenstates at the exceptional point, allowing an anomalous linear polarizer which operates orthogonal to forward and backward waves. Our results linking parity-time symmetry and relativistic electrodynamics show that previous PT-symmetric potentials for the polarization singularity with a chiral eigenstate are the subset of optical potentials for the E× B “polarization” drift.