Second order optical merons, or light pretending to be a ferromagnet
E-Mail IMAGE: Spin texture of a second-order half-skyrmion (meron) on the surface of a birefringent cavity. (Source: Physics UW, M. Krol) view more Credit: Source: Physics UW, M. Krol The scientists have demonstrated how to structure light such that its polarization behaves like a collective of spins in a ferromagnet forming half-skyrmion (also known as merons). To achieve this the light was trapped in a thin liquid crystal layer between two nearly perfect mirrors. Skyrmions in general are found, e.g., as elementary excitations of magnetization in a two-dimensional ferromagnet but...
Source: eurekalert.org