Large spatial and angular spin splitting in a thin anisotropic ε-near-zero metamaterial

Opt Express. 2017 Mar 6;25(5):5196-5205. doi: 10.1364/OE.25.005196.

Abstract

We show theoretically that after transmitted through a thin anisotropic ε-near-zero metamaterial, a linearly polarized Gaussian beam can undergo both transverse spatial and angular spin splitting. The upper limits of spatial and angular spin splitting are found to be the beam waist and divergence angle of incident Gaussian beam, respectively. The spin splitting of transmitted beam after propagating a distance z depends on both the spatial and angular spin splitting. By combining the spatial and angular spin splitting properly, we can maximize the spin splitting of propagated beam, which is nearly equal to the spot size of Gaussian beam w(z).