Spin annihilations of and spin sifters for transverse electric and transverse magnetic waves in co- and counter-rotations

Summary

This study is motivated in part to better understand multiplexing in wireless communications, which employs photons carrying varying angular momenta. In particular, we examine both transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) waves in either co-rotations or counter-rotations. To this goal, we analyze both Poynting-vector flows and orbital and spin parts of the energy flow density for the combined fields. Consequently, we find not only enhancements but also cancellations between the two modes. To our surprise, the photon spins in the azimuthal direction exhibit a complete annihilation for the counter-rotational case even if the intensities of the colliding waves are of different magnitudes. In contrast, the orbital flow density disappears only if the two intensities satisfy a certain ratio. In addition, the concepts of spin sifters and enantiomer sorting are illustrated.

Abstract